Help Me Find Something To Drink...

[penguin]

Well, my friend's bachelorette party is in Dallas this weekend, and we're going to a club (thanks, Lollie!) and doing bachelorette type things...

I'll preface my next statement by saying that we are all over 21, and nobody is even thinking about driving anywhere that night. There will be some danger in wearing heels, however

Anyway, does anyone have a suggestion of some cocktails that would be safe? I figure I could always have Red Bull and vodka, but that gets really expensive and your intox levels can run away from you real quick...

To keep costs down, we're going to "pregame" at the hotel before hand, because drinks are expensive and we need to save our dollar bills. I think I've got that covered, it's just the club I'm worried about. I know the fountain stuff is a no-no

Help me, please, to find something good to drink while we watch some talented, erm, performers

[Guest BERNESES]

Help me, please, to find something good to drink while we watch some talented, erm, performers

ChelsE- what do you like to drink? if you're thinking of hard liquor like vodka (I love my cosmopolitans) you can aalways do vodka tonics. I drink Smirnoff with tonic water and a lime when it doubt. Double bonuss because Smirnoff is made of corn and it's less expensive than some of the other vodkas. Sometimes I have it with Chambord, which I've never had a problem with, and it's kind of like a raspberry lime rickey with a kick.

Tthere's always beer and wine. I love champagne- makes me giggly.

You could do rum and coke/diet Coke. I don't like it but a lot of people do.

What kind of drinks do you usually like?

[jerseyangel]

Well, Bev pretty much covered the drinks. Have fun--and don't do anything I wouldn't do

[Lisa]

Seagams and 7-up is always good, especially with a slice of orange. Enjoy

[coronalime]

There is a beer called Bards beer. He makes it wheat free. Its hard to find sometimes. But if you look up their website they will tell you where you can by it in each state. Places here in NC sell it at Earth Fare and some small health food stores. It can be pricey. That could be a before you go out..I pay over 10 for a 6 pack.

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That is a website that lists the things you can drink/not drink. Its really hard w/ alot of the hard liquor to find the right ones. I usually stay w/wine or margarittas..for some reason tequila seems like there are more options. Have fun

[penguin]

I'm a fan of hard liquor, because beer always made me sick. The punishment was always way harsh for the crime...

I don't drink rum, because of a conference incident in college...

I'm bringing my own absolut with cranberry juice and 7up for the hotel...

Are margaritas safe at bars? I used to drink long islands, but I don't know if they're safe

And tequila is my friend

[paulasimone]

ChelsE, I have put some time and hands-on research into this very topic.

Re: tonic - doesn't it come out of the fountain gun? Most every "mixer" would, except juices, red bull (I wouldn't get it if it's from a tap, though)...

I'm also dicey on all the "well" brands of *any* liquor - the generic stuff you get when you don't order a "call" liquor by brand (like Bacardi, or Cuervo, or Smirnoff). This is the equivalent of buying generic food - we wouldn't do that, and I doubt we should do this, because, who knows??? It takes a bite out of the wallet, but better that than my intestines!

(There's always (shhhhhh!!!!!!) THE FLASK OPTION!!!!!! This is saving me money - but beware - you need to think ahead of time of exactly how much liquor is in there and how you need to measure and pace yourself so you don't overdo it. Seriously! (This threw me for a loop the first time!)

VODKA

GREYHOUND = gluten-free vodka and grapefruit juice = delish.

SCREWDRIVER = gluten-free vodka and orange juice = classic.

ON ROCKS IN A TALL GLASS + BOTTLED WATER (mix yourself, not from gun!) = actually nice, and hydrating!

I only do non-wheat vodkas myself and recommend that (I had bad experiences, don't care what the "official" word is). Lukosawa (potato), Chopin (potato), Ciroq (grape), Smirnoff (from what I've heard here, corn, but I've been too chicken to try yet) are the ones I know off the top of my head.

TEQUILA

MARGARITAS - Cuervo assures me they're gluten-free. So does Cointreau (they use no ingredients derived from any of the bad grains, unlike a lot of liquers). So I order margaritas with those, and I make sure there's no other baddy ingredients in there or stuff out of the fountain gun (the place I go to adds house-made lemon/limeade.)

SHOTS (of Cuervo or other call brand) - !cuidado!

RUM

Any CITRUS JUICE AND RUM (call brand) should be drinkable.

My friend Liza from Puerto Rico says *anything* goes well with rum, but I guess she's partial.)

Again, ON ROCKS IN A TALL GLASS w/LIME + BOTTLED WATER (mix yourself, not from gun!) is quite refreshing.

Again, I always order a brand I can expect to actually be made from sugarcane.

HARD CIDER IN A BOTTLE

sometimes hits the spot - I'm dicey on the ones on "tap" - bar rags may be used to wipe all the taps (including beer, pools of liquor, etc).

Have fun in Dallas!

Paula

[angel-jd1]

I just saw a piece on the news about Texas and drinking. I guess they are really cracking down on public intoxication. So be VERY careful. On the news they were arresting people even if they had a designated driver. If they failed a field sobriety test in the bar, they were taken to jail!! I guess texas has a large fatality rate for drunk driving and they are trying to change that starting inside of the bars. They even arrested some bartenders for overserving some of the patrons. Wild stuff, so be careful.......and put a dollar in the strippers undies for me

-Jessica

Found a news article that is like the news piece I saw on tv. If nothing else, it's interesting.

AUSTIN, Texas - Get falling-down drunk in a Texas bar and it may cost more than a bruised backside. Try $500 or a few hours in jail.

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The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is sending undercover officers into bars to look for the exceedingly drunk, issuing citations or making arrests for public intoxication even if the patrons haven't left the building.

"Drinking is fine," said agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck. "But when people drink too much, they become dangerous to themselves and other people."

The program is aimed at reducing drunken driving. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Texas had 1,264 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2004, the most in the nation.

The crackdown is aimed not only at those who are drunk, but at the bars and bartenders who continue to serve them. So far, it has resulted in about 2,200 arrests or citations around the state.

B.J. Hassell, manager of victims services with MADD Texas State, which serves central Texas, said her organization supports the crackdown.

"Can you imagine if TABC had not stopped those people from leaving the bar, how many more drunk drivers we might have had on the road?" Hassell said.

The most recent sting was March 10, when agents infiltrated more than 30 bars in the Dallas suburb of Irving, arresting or citing dozens of people.

Greg Turnbow, sipping a beer in a downtown bar during happy hour Thursday, was on a business trip from Nashville, Tenn. He said the Texas policy surprised him.

"This almost seems like entrapment," he said. "If somebody's in a bar causing trouble, they should be arrested." But the crackdown struck him as "just too much."

In Texas, the blood alcohol limit for drunken driving is .08 percent. But the law also defines public intoxication as "not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties" because of alcohol or other drugs.

Public intoxication is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. An offender can be cited or arrested. Many jails require that someone arrested be detained for at least four to 12 hours.

Bar patrons may be approached if an officer spots them behaving erratically, such as having difficulty walking or standing. The officer will perform a field sobriety test similar to one for drunken drivers. A patron may also be asked to take a breath test, although it is not required, Beck said.

Most people who take the breath test have a blood alcohol level of .17 or higher, she said. "These people who are being arrested are really drunk," she said. "We're not going up to random people."

And just having a designated driver isn't an excuse to get knee-wobbling drunk.

Beck cited a recent case in El Paso where a man staggered into traffic and was killed, and a student on spring break at South Padre Island who tried to jump into a hotel pool from a second-floor window. He missed and died.

Beck acknowledged many people may be surprised to learn they can be arrested for being drunk in a bar.

"We are trying to get the message out that we want bars to sell responsibly and consumers to consume responsibly," she said.

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[penguin]

I just saw a piece on the news about Texas and drinking. I guess they are really cracking down on public intoxication. So be VERY careful. On the news they were arresting people even if they had a designated driver. If they failed a field sobriety test in the bar, they were taken to jail!! I guess texas has a large fatality rate for drunk driving and they are trying to change that starting inside of the bars. They even arrested some bartenders for overserving some of the patrons. Wild stuff, so be careful.......and put a dollar in the strippers undies for me

-Jessica

Found a news article that is like the news piece I saw on tv. If nothing else, it's interesting.

Open Original Shared Link

Yeah, Austin is a huge party town (6th street, anyone?) and they're doing that stuff here this weekend. Massive scandal. The cops are undercover and can arrest any patron who is drunk, a bartender for giving someone drunk drinks, or bar employees who are drunk on the job. It's pretty much BS, they say that you're not exempt from the public intox laws because you're in a bar. Beware drinking too much in Texas!

[mouse]

Why shouldn't the tonic come out of a gun?. If I order a drink with coke and they use the gun, is that OK?

[RoseNNJ]

Malibu Rum with Pineapple Juice is my fav. Add a splash of cranberry for a bay breeze. Yummmy!

[paulasimone]

Why shouldn't the tonic come out of a gun?. If I order a drink with coke and they use the gun, is that OK?

it's a potential CC issue.

i don't have a link to it, but there was an earlier thread on liquor drinks, and a celiac former bartender says she *never* has anything out of the gun because they dip it right into every drink! so you might get a Bacardi and coke, for instance, but the gun was just inside someone's bourbon and coke.

[for the record, the official word right now is that distilled liquors are all okay, but it's one of those contentious issues like oats and distilled grain vinegar - a number of people (including me) seem to have had gluten reactions to these supposedly safe products and so we avoid them in favor of products that are absolutely *NOT* derived from wheat, barley, rye, or oats. perfectly executed distillation does indeed get rid of gluten - the question, for those that question, is whether real-world practice always 100% lives up to that, and whether that's a risk worth taking.]

paula

PS - i also steer clear of flavored liquors of any variety - Malibu, Captain Morgan's, flavored vodkas - we have no way of knowing what's been added to these distilled liquors for the flavors, do we? isn't it just like any other product that way? they don't list their ingredients, but does that mean they're all safe? i'm literally asking questions here, not rhetorically - are there any liquor experts out there who know if flavorings and such (or anything, really) is added *after* the distillation process??

[aaascr]

I think too, that you don't know what is in the flavoring

agent tank- ie. real coke syrup or not?

[Guest BERNESES]

My God- I NEVER thought of the soda gun as a potential CC issue. That's REALLY scary. As far as margaritas go- ChelsE just be careful with frozen mixes. Island Oasis is a BIG comapny that many bars get their frozen drink mixes from and I know I've reacted to their stuff. I've tried to get in touch with them, but they just ignore me.

I too steer clear of any liquors originally made from grain- I don't care what the official word is. That's why I like Smirnoff and I LOVE Chopin. Pricey but worth it. Smirnoff has a triple distilled vodka (corn) that is MUCH better than the old, cheap Smirnoff.

Did you know Texas also has the highest percentage of people in prison? What is up there?

I've always wanted to go to Austin (might get to in the fall for a conference) so I want to hear all about it!

[amybeth]

I recommend Woodchuck Amber ... hard cider....yum.

[debmidge]

what about vodka from Absolut or GreyGoose: are they wheat based or ???

[Guest BERNESES]

I know that Absolut and Grey Goose are grain based (don't know if it's wheat). Technically the distillation process removes the gluten (same with vinegar). I personally choose to avoid any vodka not made from corn or potatoes because I don't feel good when I drink them. If you feel OK when you drink them, then according to the research it's fine because they are gluten-free.

I do drink SKYY occasionally and don't usually have a problem. It's triple distilled so even though it's not made from corn or potatoes, I think it's a cleaner vodka.

[penguin]

I had a lot of fun at La Bare, and I actually have not a clue what I drank, because after a couple of vodka tonics, um, I didn't pay much attention.

I wasn't as concerned mostly because they only had beer in bottles (I guess since it's a ladies only club they didn't think it was worth it to have beer on tap)

I don't think I got glutened, though who knows, since I had over-imbibed and probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Other than being sick in the middle of the night, I was fine, but I think the sickness was alcohol related.

I think I drank mostly kamakazie shots, and those are safe.

Thanks for all of your help!

I'm getting too old for that kind of partying!

[Moongirl]

With the whole 'soda gun' CC issue, i guess it really depends on where u are. I was at a club this past weekend, and I didnt drink, but i watched the bar tender flipping the cups and bottles all sorts of crazy things, and sure enough there goes the little spout in the cup with the drink.....oye! just when i thought i could get a drink...But im pretty sure the tonic is out of a bottle, everytime i have gotten a drink with tonic, its always been out of a bottle. I would just watch to be safe. And as for ordering drinks with juices, u have to becareful what juices they are using... just stink to the wine if u ask me lol

I think I drank mostly kamakazie shots, and those are safe.

what are in kamakazie shots, i used to do those all the time, but didnt even know what was in it...lol

[ehrin]

You can get margaritas made either flat or Jamaican (same thing) which means they don't use sour mix, they use Rose's Lime Juice, which is gluten-free.

I much prefer that type of margarita as I HATE sour mix.

And it guarantees that no mix is used.

[NicoleAJ]

I noticed that someone mentioned Lukosawa (potato) vodka. I actually had a serious problem with it. Granted, I had only been gluten-free for a month or so at the time, but after a single screwdriver I was very sick and then soon passed out--really scary! I've never touched the stuff again. I usually just stick to wine, rum, and tequila. I'll probably get more adventurous some day, but only when I'm at home rather than risking weird reactions out in public.

[prinsessa]

When I worked as a waitress the tonic was NOT out of a bottle. It came from the gun. And beware because some juices also come from the gun.