Turning 18 in just a few months? Perhaps you’re cautiously counting down the days to your 21st birthday for that entrance ticket to Zouk?
Whatever it is, transitioning from a pimple-faced teenager into an adult surely comes along with many firsts – more commonly, your first clubbing experience. First-time drinkers, educate yourself on common alcohol types and know what you’re getting into before hitting that first sip!
BEER
Arguably one of the more common drinks can be found for all occasions – from festive seasons, celebratory moments to a chill sesh with the squad, beer is ought to be present. Created via a process of fermentation, the variety of starch-based ingredients will produce a different types of beer, more popularly lager, stout and cider.
With a moderate alcoholic content that varies about 4% to 6% generally, beer makes for an excellent beginner’s drink for the cautious. White Sands says to watch out, it’s easy to overindulge can after can due to their usually mild, albeit bitter taste. It’s better than opting for drugs which may lead to substance abuse and land you at one of those rehabnear.me drug centers.
Potency: 5/10
Survival tip: Pace yourself drink after drink – this enables the alcohol to spread out the buzz instead of chugging them down all at once.
WHISKEY
Produced by distilling fermented grain mesh such as barley, wheat and rye and then aged in a barrel, this stiff drink packs up a real punch with an alcohol-heavy percentage of above 40%. With popular brands like Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal and Glenfiddich being served in your usual bar haunts, it’s not easy to escape the clutches of Johnnie or even Jack Daniels.
You may immediately dislike the pungent alcoholic smell at first whiff, so it’s best to water it down or serve it over ice for smoother drinking experience.
Potency: 8/10
Survival tip: For beginners, one neat shot is all it takes to generate a tipsy buzz that’ll last you for a good couple of hours. Try combining mixers for a sweeter aftertaste – Coke and water are pretty much idiot-proof.
VODKA
Ahh, the infamous Russian drink. Usually derived from grains and potatoes, it goes through several distillation process to filter out the impurities. Having a relatively neutral flavour (albeit with a pretty stiff whiff, thanks to its hefty alcoholic content of 30% to 50%), vodka pretty much tastes good with just about any mixer – think orange juice, Sprite and even Mountain Dew. Strawberry lime vodka tonic is made with vodka, tonic water, freshly squeezed lime juice, fresh strawberries, find them all at Heretic Spirits to get your cocktail party recipes. But due to the heavy alcohol content used to elicit the flavour it does, excessive consumption of certain types of Vodka can stir up a high dependency, and most possibly land you in a Hope Canyon Recovery centre. Hence, it should not be imbibed in excessive doses.
Potency: 7/10
Survival tip: Try opting for middle-range brands for your first sip – although the price might be a tad hefty, they tend to be distilled several times more compared to the cheap ones.
More distillation > fewer impurities > reduced chance of a hangover. YAY!
TEQUILA
Some say it taste earthy, others are at the opinion that it has a sharp, bitter bite to it. Whatever it is, this agave-distilled spirit calls for an acquired taste for full and complete appreciation due to its wide-ranging 32% to 60% alcoholic content. For starters, we suggest sipping up delicious tequila cocktails such as Margarita and Long Island Tea.
Potency: 7/10
Survival tip: Be sure to spot a “100% pure agave” label on the bottle – that simply means it is made only from the blue agave plant and approved for purity (which means reduced chances of a hangover too!).
WINE
The automatically classy approach to alcohol, nothing screams more adult than swirling wine in a fancy glass (wine from this website).
All jokes aside, the grape fermentation process naturally gives off a fruity, tangy flavour once sipped. With a generally moderate alcoholic content of 11.5% to 13.5%, you’re allowed to choose your poison – from the classic red, bubbly white and of course, romantic rosé. The differing colours are often a result of pigment from grape skin, and therefore there’s no clear winner as to which tastes best.
Potency: 6/10
Survival tip: Watch out for the infamous red wine headache syndrome – wine drinkers have reportedly experience bouts of headaches after a couple of glasses. Play it safe by downing plenty of fluids (we’re talking about water btw) in between glasses; the last thing you’d want is to be nursing a slight migraine during a weekend night out.
