WHEN I was a lad and worked with my dad in his pub, men drank whiskey and bottles of Guinness, and women drank Bacardi and bitter lemon, and bottles of Special Brew.
Some of the women drank Bacardi and bitter lemon and bottles of Special Brew as a chaser but, as a weekly communicant, I stayed well out of their way.
Nobody drank anything else, except hot whiskeys when they had a cold.
Whiskey, stout, Bacardi and bitter lemon, Special Brew that was the panoply of booze in Belfast in the 1960s.
Nowadays, young men and women in Belfast, and everywhere else in Ireland, polish this assortment of drinks off in the first hour of a Saturday night, just to get them started. When it comes to boozing, we are as faithless as you can get, willing to try just about anything.
So, why is it then that we only buy our friends really cliched bottles at Christmas for pressies and parties? It's about time we got funky with the special bottles, so here is a modern hit list of good cocktails and special bottles to carry to the party and place under the tree.
First, we take Manhattans.
IN a splendid essay by James Villas, A few choice words about the Manhattan, written a few years back, the author declares that the Martini "simply is not and never has been in the same class as the Manhattan".
Fighting talk, but not surprising as the Manhattan uses bourbon - real American hootch - and the best-known American whiskeys are cracking drinks, with evocative names such as Rebel Yell and Wild Turkey, which sounds like a suitable drink for the Christmas meal.
So here is Villas's recipe to put the proof of the spirit to test.
The Original Manhattan Cocktail
(As formulated around 1890 by Judge Charles Henry Truax when he was president of New York's Manhattan Club)
2 ounces Bourbon whiskey
1 ounce sw Italian vermouth
Dash of Angostura bitters
A stemmed maraschino cherry
Combine the whiskey, vermouth and bitters in a mixing glass or pitcher, add 2 or 3 ice cubes, stir quickly until well chilled, and strain into a 4-ounce stemmed cocktail glass. Add the cherry.
The Harvey Wallbanger
Galliano is a little bit out of fashion now, which makes it the perfect time to reintroduce it to the world. You can find it in a Christmas gift pack which includes a couple of glasses and recipes for mixing this elixir with coffee, but I think the Harvey Wallbanger is the one.
Apparently Harvey was a surfer who, after losing a contest, mixed Galliano with the popular cocktail known as a Screwdriver and, after a few, bounced around the walls.
2 ounces vodka
1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons Galliano
Orange juice
Half teaspoon sugar (optional)
Shake vodka, orange juice and sugar, if used, with ice cubes. Pour over ice cubes into a long, lean Collins glass or a chunky Old Fashioned glass, or strain into a cocktail glass. Float the Galliano on top.
THERE is truly no better gift than a good bottle of Irish whiskey and there is absolutely no better gift than a special bottle of Irish whiskey.
So, make your way to Molloy's liquor stores, in Dublin, and hunt down their very rare Redbreast Original. This stock surfaced 12 months ago, and is the original Redbreast which Jameson produced for Gilbey's. I think Irish Distillers' 12-year-old Redbreast is one of the glories of the whiskey world, and while this doesn't have the same zest and attack as that it is nevertheless a fascinating, very old, whiskey. Mind you, it would need to be, with a price tag of £50 a bottle, but for something special, this is a treat.
Another relatively rare whiskey is Green Spot, bottled for Mitchell's of Kildare Street. Full of honey and soft warmth, the spirit here is very understated, making this a very sociable glass: i.e., you can drink all too much of it all too easily.
This is the sole survivor of the old practice whereby wine merchants would fill their own casks with whiskey from the distillery and sell it under their own name. It's a pure pot-still whiskey, and it is a beaut. It costs £16.95 a bottle and if you want to splash out a bit more, Mitchell's sell a Whiskey Paradise, which includes a bottle of Green Spot, a Riedel whiskey glass and a whiskey book, for £39.90.
And don't overlook the newcomer, in the shape of the Tyrconnell Single Malt, from the Cooley distillery. Even though it has been on the market only for a few years, the distinctive citrus and honey notes of this malt are considerable, and its character seems already fully composed. It is widely available, and very good value.
THINK of all the great double acts you know - Ginger `n' Fred, stout `n' oysters, Liam `n' Patsy, chicken `n' chardonnay and prepare to add another cured fish `n' Akvavit.
It amazes me that Akvavit is not more appreciated here, for the sheer magic of its collaboration with cured fish such as herring is one of the great culinary feats. Of course, we also undervalue herring, which doesn't help, but if you have some smoked salmon to nibble at over the holliers, then try it with some ice cold Akvavit.
Mitchell's of Dublin sell Aalborg's Jubilaeum Akvavit, a pale golden liquor flavoured with dill and coriander. The beauty of the spirit lies in the fact that the flavourings are so dominant. It's made for food, so grab the gravadlax, and grab a bottle of this (£18.95).
THERE is a mass of fine cognacs and armagnacs to buy at Christmas time. Some of them, such as the popular Remy Martin, even offer gift boxes including little hip-flasks which are nifty to slip into the inside pocket of the coat when you go racing on Stephen's Day. Good cognac names to look out for include the organic Chateau de Beaulon, Delamain's excellent Pale & Dry, and Lheraud James Nicholson of Crossgar stocks the droll Payrault Fine Champagne Cognac, a deeply-hued drink that speaks of time, time, time. Mellow, toasty, a special digestif, the five-year old costs £17.95, and you can pay up to £39.25 for the 30-year-old.
Many Armagnacs, unlike Cognac, are now sold as single vintages, such as the 1979 Castarde, from the oldest Armagnac house, sold by Molloy's at £40.
Mitchell's of Dublin offer vintages of Chateau de Laubade ranging from 1975 all the way back (and all the way up in price!) to 1936. The V.S.O.P. sells for £21.30, and has gorgeous smoky aromas and despite its lightness is round and heated in the mouth.
IF you are determined to buys someone a Scottish single malt whisky, go to a good off-licence. The choice offered by McCabe's, of Mount Merrion, for example, is daunting, including the smooth Glenmorangie (in five different ages and finishes), the smoky Laphroaig, the light, sherryish Glenfiddich, the fine 25-year-old Macallan, the fiery, eight-year-old Sheep Dip - whose daft name makes it a cute gift - and the marvellous Talisker.
The latter great malt, distilled on the Isle of Skye, is positively rampant with flavour, astoundingly intense, and a quite unforgettable drink, worth far more than the £28 a bottle it costs. Here is a bottle to make any and every whiskey drinker happy.
AND now, to something lighter - beer to try at your ease.
Belle Vue Geuze is great with a late-morning holiday brunch be prepared to be converted to the majesty of Belgian brewing. This is not just one of the great beers, from the small Brussels firm of Belle Vue, it is one of the great drinks bitter and sweet, hoppy and malty, terrific with food. £1.75 a bottle in Molloy's Liquor Stores and a steal at the price.
Koningshoeven La Trappe comes in a heavy, dense bottle, capped with a bubbly cork, and despite being brewed by Trappist monks, here is a brew of unabashed voluptuousness and luxuriousness. Sweet, vivid with hops and treacly rich, it is just mega. (£3.50 Dunnes, and other good off-licences).
Chimay Rouge is another brew from the Trappist brothers, but much lighter than Koeningshoeven.
The joke goes that the beer is pronounced "she-may", which is a trifle unfair on the brothers. Almost blackcurrant-sweet, but rather a good accompaniment to blue cheese, believe it or not. Try to get one of the rather nifty glasses which suit the beer perfectly; (£1.79, Dunnes and others).
Shepherd Neame Master Brew Bitter - raising this to your lips is like taking a walk into a barley field. It's dry and balanced like a good English bitter, but the flavours have real zip and freshness. (£1.69)
Bajan Beer is a cool, rather light beer from Barbados, which is the perfect drink at Christmas. Why so? Because drinking it helps you to dream of beaches and sunshine and chillin' out somewhere indecently far away from home. Crucial; (£1.25, Mitchell's, McCabes and elsewhere).
Franziskaner Weissebier is a wheat beers, what is referred to as a "breakfast beers" or "after church beers", according to the beer hunter himself, Michael Jackson, so try to get hold of something suitable for that late breakfast, or for when you get back from the shrine (or at the very least are watching Father Ted). It is intense, sweet, a rather powerfully alcoholic swirl at 5 per cent; (£1.59 Molloy's).
At 5.7 per cent, meanwhile, the Maisel's Weisse Bier (£1.89 Dunnes, McCabe's) is a walloping big thump of booze, whose bittersweet bite makes it all too easy to drink.