Drinks from the past

[CrowsInMyGarden]

When I was growing up my parents hardly drank. My aunt and uncle would come over to our house 3-4 times a year to play cards and would bring a bottle of wine. It would be Blue Nun or Black Tower. My sister who is 9 years older than me brought home a Mateus Rose in the oval bottle, I thought she was so sophisticated.

If there was a special occasion and something fizzy was required then it would be Cava. When did Cava stop being the replacement champagne and Prosecco take over? I think I preferred Cava.

At Christmas there would be a bottle of Martini and a bottle of Cinzano, maybe a Sherry. There would still be half a bottle of each left by the next Christmas. Wouldn't happen in my home now.

I can remember going out with friends in the 80s. My friend used to drink "Bezique, Lime and Soda with ice" I think Bezique was a kind of offshoot of Bacardi that isn't made any more.

Are there other drinks that aren't around anymore that people have fond memories of? I know Cinzano and Martini are still available but back in the day they were THE drinks and have now just faded into the background.

For the non drinkers there was TaB, the first diet coke style drink. Were there any others like this?

Sweet martini and lemonade was my first alcoholic drink of choice , the thought of it makes me shudder. I didn’t like it then, but pretended I did to be cool( so not cool😀) . No one in my group ever drunk wine. I eventually switched to vodka and orange which tasted much better although occasionally the bar staff would try to make it with orange squash 😣rather than orange juice.

We used to visit friends of the family at Christmas, and the choice for women was port and lemon or a snowball. There was a bottle of Stones Ginger Wine lurking at the back of our cupboard, for the very odd occasion Dad fancied a Whisky Mac.

My uncle always gave me a splash of babycham in a coupe with the little deer on it on NYE. From about the age of 7. Bonkers looking back on it but I was thrilled.

Came on to say Taboo and lemonade.

We used to have Woodpecker cider with Sunday lunch if there was money for it, I was allowed a liqueur glass full. I quite liked it as a young child!

I still like this at Christmas with my lunch. Perfectly happy to be thought unsophisticated.

In my extreme youth the trendy drink was Mailbu and pineapple but I was a maverick and had vodka and lime.

In later years I moved on to Strongbow 1080 or cider and Blue Bols which turns the pint Fairy Liquid green and goes down a treat.

Just remembered Black Russians too which are tia maria, vodka, and coke.
Delicious!

Ha! My mum rarely drank but did like a whiskey Mac! And I loved snowballs at Christmas.
My dad used to get those kegs of Watneys in when he had mates round.

And definitely remember my DGodM dipping her youngests dummy in her drink when they were staying over to help him sleep!

Party 7 kegs of beer

I can definitely remember a ton of the adverts!

Nothing sparkles like a Babycham
Stay sharp to the bottom of the glass (Harp lager)
Definitely a Dry Blackthorn day
If Smirnoff made pet food
The one for Schweppes where a leopard (voiced by Kelsey Grammar, no less) had a crocodile bodyguard who went off to attack a jetskier.

Midori. It was a bright green melon “liqueur”.

My DD has started drinking Long Vodkas which were very popular in the 90s.

Cava is much nicer than Prosecco.

Archers and lemonade
snowballs
Pints of Black Russian (2 shots Tia Maria, 2 shots Vodka and top up with full fat coke)!!!
Sweet white wine with lemonade

Archers and lemonade
snowballs
Pints of Black Russian (2 shots Tia Maria, 2 shots Vodka and top up with full fat coke)!!!
Sweet white wine with lemonade

Liebfraumilsch wine always reminds me of my parents in the 80s, and Gancia

I’ve only ever known Aussies to drink long vodkas. And Illusions made with Midori were popular when I was there late 90s/00s.

I forgot about a long vodka. I loved these. Angostura bitters, vodka and lemonade or soda with lime. I might order one next time I'm out 🤣

Does anyone buy Crème de Menthe nowadays? I had it when I first tried alcohol as a teen and thought it was great 🤢 it’s mouthwash really, not a drink.

Black Russian, bloody loved those

Bacardi breezers

Babycham

Lambrusco!!!

You can still get barley wine it’s just called Gold Label Special Beer now. Sainsbury’s sells it £6.85 for 4 and 7.5% ABV

A purple zombie: cider and lager mixed to gather with blackcurrant juice. It was a cheap way to get pissed quickly!

Was that a local name? In the pub I worked at it was called "snakebite and black."

The landlord barred it at one point because of all the drunk 18year olds staining the pavement outside when they were ill. Bloody lethal stuff, because they chugged it like it was just Ribena.

We called it Snakebite and black 🤢

I shudder at the memory now.

My mum drinks Campari and tonic regularly.

I much prefer Cava over Prosecco, just don’t get the love for it.

Great memories of my youth on this thread!

Thunderbird

Red Volari. It was a sparkling red wine. Me and my friend used to drink gallons of the stuff.
I think I'd still be drinking it now if they still made it.