FOR THE DRINKERS..
 

when in london a couple days ago, I had the chance to have this drink called a Peach Lemonade. I noticed lots of drinks in the UK are different from in the US. What other drinks are good in the UK? Where are some good pubs?

Draught guiness is sublime.Shandy is good.White wine and soda is great.

Hooch! And I'm with Catherine on a draught Guinness...the anticipation is half the joy. <BR>Wes Fowler answered a post (do a search under "pub" or "historical pub") with a list of pubs with stories. <BR>Never went to a pub I didn't like (I have avoided any with the names "BikerBar from Hell" or "WeAssaultWomen Here").

One way in which drinks are different is the ingredients: what is called lemondade in the UK or limondade in France equals Sprite/7UP in the US.

NEVER ask for american dry ginger, or lemonade or coke or anything with flavour to go into malt whisky. You will get of with just enough water to release the distinctive peaty taste. Anything else is anathema and is a standard contemptous "joke" about Americans. <BR>

Once while in London, I was walking around the area of Liberty's store and was just in the mood for a little drink. So I ducked into a local pub and asked for a Red Wine Spritzer. The bartender woman's response was "excuse me"? with a strange look on her face. After repeating my request, she said "Are you sure"? I was rather surprised at her reactioned and thought that perhaps it was made different in England. Perhaps I was asking for a Kamikaze-type drink. I told her that it was simply seltzer water and Red Wine, and she replied "yes I know, it's just that nobody ever asks for that". I then had to test this reaction in other pubs for the rest of my trip, with nearly close to the same reation. I found this puzzling.

To iterate Sheila's point: at a taste testing at Bushmill's, we had the distinct pleasure of sharing a table with an Irishman who, upon adding a bit of water to his sampling, said "ya must always baptize yer whisky". Have never forgotten to do it since....

Valerie <BR> <BR>No-one here ever drinks red wine cold, never mind watered down. So whilst white wine spritzers are reasonably common ( indeed if you ask for a spritzer, that is what you will get) red wine spritzers are not. <BR>