Hard Cider

Today I've decided to write about Hard Cider. This was the first drink I ever had at McMenamins, and because I was there with my friends who all have their favorite beers to drink, this was the closest I could get to drinking beer. (I'm still working on acquiring that taste, I'm all the way to PBR!)

As I've made my way around some different bars and pubs, I have discovered it is difficult to find Hard cider. I found this great article that discusses how hard cider was one of the drinks of choice for the working class in America and then disappeared. You can read more here.

This article also discusses what hard cider is, which is pretty interesting. The author explains that fermenting apple juice with no added sugar will result in an alcohol content of about 5%. If you add sugar and/or carbonation, you can bring the alcohol content up to 10-12% alcohol. Technically, if the hard cider is above 8% alcohol and below 14% it is considered wine. I'm not sure how much alcohol is in McMenamins hard cider, but it's got to be a fair amount!

In trying to find more information about this specific hard cider, I came across this website that rates beers. This page has the rating for this particular cider, with some good descriptions of it. You can find that here.

In my opinion, this is a great way to introduce beer-type drinks. I even know some beer drinkers who like hard cider on occasion.

Mysterious Shot for 24

Hello. I thought I'd start this blog off with a drink that says a little something about me. I recently turned 24 years old, and my family decided to take me out to a local Mexican Restaurant, El Sol de Mexico. Probably one of my favorite restaurants.

For birthdays, it is pretty common to expect a free dessert and a birthday song when you announce it at a restaurant. Most Mexican restaurants like to put a big sombrero on your head, which they did. What I didn't expect was the tasty shot I got in place of a free dessert!

The waiter brought over the shot and placed it on the table, it was a brown, creamy kind of color. He put a napkin over the top of the glass and hit it against the table twice (my guess was to mix up the ingredients). I drank it down and they proceeded to sing to me a birthday song in Spanish. The shot tasted good, kind of chocolaty with no bad after taste. I asked what was in it: Tequila, Kahlua, and Pepsi.

Upon searching for this mysterious drink on the internet, I come up with nothing that has only those ingredients. I'll have to try and see if I can replicate this drink at home and then post the amounts of each ingredient.


I hope you enjoyed the first entry of this blog! My plan is to keep including great drink recipes that I find or happen to make up, as well as provide some tips and information about the effects of alcohol on the body. Because I am a student, I still have free access to all kinds of current research so why not provide it to people who can use it? :D