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Jaeger is for burn outs and frat boys. Don't listen to these fools.

Drink beer: Guinness stout or extra stout. Might as well learn to swim by jumping in the deep end.

If mixed drinks is your bag, go with a top-shelf margharita. Not sure if your English pubs could make a proper one, though.

Congrats on turning 18.

kronk wrote:Jaeger is for burn outs and frat boys. Don't listen to these fools.

Drink beer: Guinness stout or extra stout. Might as well learn to swim by jumping in the deep end.

If mixed drinks is your bag, go with a top-shelf margharita. Not sure if your English pubs could make a proper one, though.

Most places will pretty much make ANY girl's drink you like.

Oh, girls drinks. Then go for a cosmo or an appletini. They're delightful!



After you've warmed up, go to tequila. It's best delivered in Margarita form.

one option is kettle and soda. doesnt taste like much of anything, doesnt give you a nasty hang over, does get you drunk. its a little more expensive but its not a girly drink and it also wont make you a fat a$$, which beer and fruity drinks tend to do.

as far as shots tequila will get you where you're going, but don't start with that stuff. it's very strong and if you aren't used to it you risk spewing it all over the bar. jaeger is for punks.
AF

AbaddonFidelis wrote:...................................................... and it also wont make you a fat a$$, which beer and fruity drinks tend to do..............................

I resemble that remark sir!

I like sipping top-shelf tequila all by itself, actually. Sauza is good enough to drink neat, and it gives you a smooth kind of buzz that will numb you up but keep you from puking and punching a stripper which is where drinking cheap tequila usually ends up.

Jaeger is repugnant, also.

hornitos is good too. I try to drink that when it's available, though I usually get stuck with.... sigh..... patron.

Hornitos is a close second favorite of mine, to Sauza.

A nice cigar and a bottle of either of those on back porch in NH on a nice fall afternoon is what I imagine heaven to be like.

Here comes the boring and sensible advice:
For your first night out drinking, I think you should take it easy. If you get plastered, you're just likely to make a tit out of yourself and maybe end up injured. People will put pressure on you to get completely drunk, and you'll be tempted to go along with it. My advice is don't. Find a drink you enjoy drinking, order one of those in each pub you go to, and drink it slowly. If you start to feel too drunk, slow down a bit.
If you're totally unused to the taste of alcohol, here's a general rundown of how things will taste:
Ale: Bitter as hell (I love ale, but it might take some getting used to)
Guinness: So far in the UK I've not had a good pint of it.
Lager: Cold and beery. Not much taste- could be good if you want to experience the pleasant buzz of beer drunk but don't want strong taste.
Cider: Depending on the fruit, could be sour or very sweet. I find it sickly. Usually pretty strong too. Rotten hangovers! (Nice with ice on a hot day though)
Whiskey: You might like it with coke, I don't recommend it neat at first because you'll tend to drink it too fast. Good with ginger ale, also.
Vodka: See above, but much more tasteless.
Rum: Can't go wrong with rum and coke.
For any spirit, mixer is good, DO NOT DOWN SHOTS (maybe once, at the start of the night, but not every time, you'll be wrecked).
Hmmmm, I'm getting bored. Gonna stop. Take it easy in any case mate, and don't feel you've got anything to prove.

yeah that's probably good advice.
after a certain point drinking more won't make you feel much better.... it could actually make you feel worse.

arrange your transportation beforehand. this should probably be either a nearby hotel or a taxi if you can afford it. designated drivers dont always work out.

tip your bar tender well and you could be surprised at the gak they'll pull for you. If you turn into a well-tipping regular they'll often pay you back in cheap and/or free drinks. They'll also pour you better drinks and serve you faster than they do the roobs who dont tip. The other night the bar tender stepped in and broke up what was pretty nearly a fist fight between me (and about half a dozen other people) and this clown who was getting stupid. He had to leave, I got to stay. Why? I'm a regular who tips well, he'd never seen tha other guy before in his life. simple math right? bar tenders like money. tip them and they will like you too.

don't mix your drinks - find a drink and stick to it. mixing your alcohol or drinking stuff with alot of sugar in it - either mixers or rum, which is distilled from sugar cane, will tend to give you a harsher hang over.

If you start to feel like you want to throw up it's well past time to stop.
AF

Tipping isn't common at all in the UK, I think most barmen wouldn't know what to make of it

really? wow I had no idea. Disregard.

Brandy, the drink of heroes.

A decent IPA - next to no headache and a lighter beer so you can avoid the sloshing about feeling you get after an evening on the pop.

AbaddonFidelis wrote:really? wow I had no idea. Disregard.

What we do instead is offer the bar-being one for him/herself. If they want, they can take the cash and keep it rather than constantly drinking.

UK pub culture is very different to American bars. No table service, for example.

Thanks for the advice I'll keep them in mind on Saturday

If 18th birthdays are anything like 21st birthdays in the United States, you will probably be drinking a little of everything. Your friends will be thrusting drinks and shots in your hands the whole time.

You will probably overindulge and feel miserable the next day, but it's one of those "rite of passage" things.

My only advice is to drink a glass of water and eat something before you go to sleep and drink more water whenever you wake up during the night.

Drink a pint of milk before you go out as well; it lines the stomach.

Bunk I say^

Mate! Dont listen to any of this lot, your 18.

If you start knacking your spirits at 18, you will get leathered inside an hour.

You live in the UK, home of the finest ales in the world!

And you can drink it all day, cos its nice session stuff most of it.

Get yourself to a good place that sells real ale, weatherspoons usually even has 5 or 6 if your stuck for ideas, and drink a pint of every single one you can find!

Have a great day mate!

Perhaps you should avoid alcohol alltogether, as it is Satan's saliva. Go to Church, pray with friends, or perhaps hand out shirts to the homeless and you'll just as much fun as a pub crawl.

I also have promise rings for sale if you are interested....

mattyrm wrote:Mate! Dont listen to any of this lot, your 18.

If you start knacking your spirits at 18, you will get leathered inside an hour.

You live in the UK, home of the finest ales in the world!

And you can drink it all day, cos its nice session stuff most of it.

Get yourself to a good place that sells real ale, weatherspoons usually even has 5 or 6 if your stuck for ideas, and drink a pint of every single one you can find!

Have a great day mate!

For once I agree with mattyrm.

NO LAGERS!!

Kilkrazy wrote:For once I agree with mattyrm

But... but... were the same me an you!

If you want a mixer, and you haven't done much drinking, try a Seven and Seven, that'd be Seagrams 7 and 7-Up. Goes down particularly easy if you're new, decent taste and reasonable price because Seagram's is hardly top shelf.

That said, I'd stick to beer, and even better than water, try a bottle of gatorade before bed, not the really sugary ones though.

Happy Birthday!

Beer! Beer! Beer!