DH and I are headed to London next week, first trip there for us both. I'm looking forward to the experience and atmosphere of the English pubs, but I am not a beer drinker. Any suggestions on other 'traditional English' beverages I can try?

Try a cider, you might really like that. They have wine and liquor there also.

You can order whatever you want. I'm not a beer drinker so I usually get a fizzy bottled water - or whatever they have that's as cold as possible - preferably both already cold and then on ice (beg for each cube).

But you can get cider (hard), sodas, lemonade or OJ or mixed drinks (although they may not have your brand or make thinks exactly the way you expect). I found out with one experiment at a gina and tonic that there was hardly any gin and the tonic seemed off.

Try Shandy - a mix of beer and some kind of lemonade - not sure but low in alcohol if that is your goal and not a beer taste at alll.

Ditto to the cider suggestions.

My wife doesn't like beer, no matter how hard I try, but she can put a good cider down. In Scotland they once to put a bit of currant juice in her cider. Don't know if that has a name or is a common practice, but it was pretty darn good.

I am not a beer drinker. Usually I get (hard) cider, but sometimes I'll have a glass of wine. I also love Pimm's, with herbs, when the weather is warm.

Not looking for non-alcoholic, definitely more the 'adult' beverage variety. Just wanting to know some traditional English options. I am a wine lover, so I'm sure I can find a good wine. Just want to drink like the Brits do. I like the cidar suggestions, so I will check that out.

>>Just want to drink like the Brits do<<

The Brits drink whatever you drink -- wine, beer, gin & tonic, cider (don't ask for 'hard' cider -- cider <i>is</i> hard).

Don't order a shandy -- if you don't drink beer you wouldn't want a shandy either.

When granddaughters and I went on the Literary Pub Crawl in Dublin they wanted to buy me a drink. I'm not fond of the taste of most alcohol but tried a shandy and enjoyed it.

<<In Scotland they once to put a bit of currant juice in her cider. Don't know if that has a name or is a common practice>>

It's called a cider and black, juice is probably too strong a word, its cordial, it used to be popular with the girlies. People also mix it with either lager or Pernod

Cider is probably the best option, especially if you can stay away from Bulmers Woodpecker or Strongbow as they are mass produced, instead try to find scrumpy cider which be warned can be a lot stronger than the taste suggests. Even deadlier is mixing cider with lager, its called a snake bite and a lot of bars used to refuse to mix / sell it

"In Scotland they once to put a bit of currant juice in her cider. Don't know if that has a name or is a common practice>>"

Many years ago (when I was a bit younger), we used to call it a "train smash", probably not very PC these days.

I've lived in the Uk all my life, only once had shandy (in Germany) and it was horrible. Cider drinker since 15. Loads of different ones, generally the "draught" ciders are like Budweiser "beer" S@@t, avoid the fruit (blackcurrent, plum, grape, etc) based ciders for kids still weaning and the Belgium fake cidre (sic) and focus on Organic bottled cider from the UK or Ireland (actually even this latter is a bit dull).

You may then start to see the differences between Somerset, Norfolk or Hereford ciders

Wine in British pubs, "much better than it used to be" is not really a claim to fame. Yes, there are pubs with a good wine list, approach all others with caution.

If a pub is not busy they may well let you have a taste of "bitter" for free and you can always try 1/2 a pint for £1.50 to £2.00 to see what it is about. Try to avoid pubs that cool bitter, it is not designed to be sold cold, it is designed to be sold at room temperature, however you will find some mass market bitters that need the cold to make them appear "star bright". Most mass market lagers are sold cold to make them appear star bright and to mask the taste.

I am a huge fan of real ale so what I do when visiting England or Scotland is to look for the Cask Marque plaque on the front of a pub and order whatever real ale they have on tap.

http://holtparktoday.com/wp-content/...que.emblem.jpg

I also drink cider (but I avoid Strongbow unless I really, really want a cider and there are no alternatives offered).

CAMRA signs are good too http://www.camra.org.uk/ tell you where and what

If you order a sodas you will get a "blank" look, soda used to be carbonated water out of a weird glass spray bottle, if anyone still does it I'd be amazed.

A bit of fun, ask "has the major been in?" there is some statistic that for 3/5 of pubs he has and 2/5 he is in.

If you don't like beer, or what the English call lager, you may still enjoy ordering "a pint of bitter, please", or a half-pint if you don't want that much. Otherwise, just order a glass of wine, which is very popular these days. There are even some very good English wines, but you may have a hard time finding somewhere that serves it by the glass.

Don't write off beer completely. I don't like the dark bitters that OH favours, but there are less hoppy, light golden ones and wheat beers that slip down a treat. I prefer wine in the evenings, and generally assume that if a pub offers several wines by the glass, it's probably ok. If they just have house wine by the glass, order something else. Gin, or any other spirit, is too expensive to drink in pubs, even with mixers. Small measures that are gone in a couple of sips whilst your companion has barely skimmed the top off his pint.

"If you order a sodas you will get a "blank" look, soda used to be carbonated water out of a weird glass spray bottle, if anyone still does it I'd be amazed."

Well "amazingly" you can still buy them, don't think I've seen one in a pub since the 70's.


http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/soda-syphon-19053963.jpg

Thanks for reminding me about CAMRA,bilboburgler. They are doing God's work.