That does seem a weird thing, but I’ve found I’ve wanted something that wasn’t water or soda-pop (tea and coffee have their own issues). While I have seen some alleged spirit substitutes, none were anywhere close to what they claimed to be. Somewhat understandable, but then don’t make the claim. As for “mocktails”… somehow they all seem to be sugar. Don’t need that. I’m not saying they are all failures, but I am saying I haven’t met a real success yet. I haven’t looked at NA wines at all, at least not yet.

This past Friday I tried the two NA beer’s the closest place had. I have no need to try Busch NA again – and I wasn’t expecting much. The Michelob Ultra Zero, at least from the bottle, was better. That might not be saying much (“damning with faint praise”), but it’s a data point. If those two are all there is, the Michelob Zero is my choice. If the Busch is all there is, I’ll have a sodee-pop.

What I’ve seen of online reviews generally agrees that Guinness Zero is one of, if not the, best of the NA beers as it compares favorably (almost indistinguishably) with regular Guinness. To my surprise, the local liquor store has this. They also have Summit Nialas Irish: Dark as another. Summit has set of NA’s under the Nialas name The fellow at the store said the best seller NA was Blue Moon. I’ve tried all of those. The Guinness is likely as good as claimed (even using the nitrogen gadget so the downward bubbles happen and the ‘texture’ is right). The Summit seems reasonably good. I wasn’t all that big on Blue Moon, but it does seem about right and it might be a price point and quantity issue. The Guinness is a tall four-pack, the Summit a regular (boxed) six-pack, and the Blue Moon a regular 12-pack. Supposedly the NA IPA’s work for those who like IPA’s. I can see that, the hops are a decided flavorant that would come through.

The fellow also said his own favorite NA was Corona, but only directly from glass bottles. Glass bottled NA Corona, which to his consternation, they don’t carry (just the canned stuff) but Walmart does. “Is it skunked like regular Corona?” “It’s not as skunky, but it’s there. I put in a lime wedge and it’s like having a regular Corona.”

He did say that if I found an NA beer I really liked and they didn’t carry it, I could see about having them special order a full case (4 six-pack, I think) for me. I don’t expect that to happen any time soon, if at all. Meanwhile, I have a few things that are good enough, and there’s more research to do at the various other places in town.

No, I didn’t suffer an ocular slugging. One of the various items that was brought back from Texas was a bottle of Shiner gin. Yes, the Shiner Bock folks went and made a gin.

I took just a tiny taste and found that the typical gin flavor (juniper) was not really there for me. Alright. Nor was the also label-listed grapefruit. Huzzah! The pecan, however, was decidedly there, and no doubt.

I made a Martini with it, starting off with a classic. Figuring the pecan to be mild, I just did a “dry” (ugh I loathe that misnomer, but we’re stuck with it) version of just a rinse of dry vermouth. Mistake. The pecan is NO SLOUCH. I added a fair amount of vermouth (3:1 perhaps) and that seemed to bring things into balance. Considering the pecan, I decided to skip the traditional olive garnish.

ADDDENDUM (Next Day): Tried it in a modified Negroni. No Campari, used the Aperol that was available. Needed a bit more Aperol than in 1:1:1 cocktail. Maybe 1.5 oz for 1 oz of the others. Might have been 2. I tried the 1:1:1 and adjusted without making a second drink. The result does indeed work. The pecan is there, without being overpowering.

[Yes, I know the day. Wrote of it before. I leave the recollections to others.]

There is Tawny Port, and there is Ruby Port. There is also White and Rosé. And a good many makers. I knew a fellow with a fondness for Taylor as he found it “good enough.” I find Taylor… tolerable. Is something really port? That’s up to the strict folks at Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto.

I can’t recall much about White port (I have had it at least once) nor Rosé (not sure), but Ruby and Tawny are rather readily found – and usually Taylor. But, and this is my bias, if you can find Sandeman’s, spend the extra couple bucks and move way up. And if you are really fortunate, you might encounter Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve. I will not say it is the absolute best Port in the world – I can afford it from time to time, after all, but it’s no slouch.

As Port is a “fortified” wine, it packs more of a punch than typical wine. Thus while a normal wine pour is 5 fluid ounces, a Port pour is only 3 fluid ounces. Short version, treat it about like a dessert wine, as it rather is one.