Tuesday evenings are traditionally the night that we have a small tipple, based on the weekly weigh in for those of us on a perpetual diet. It is Karen’s tradition but I don’t want her to feel left out…

We often have Port, preferably LBV (Late Bottled Vintage). However, when I was left on my own recently, I stocked up on some plonk. I bought a bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pape from M&S and some Southern Comfort from ASDA. I’m not entirely certain why I occasionally do this as it is very rare that I drink by myself, regarding the consumption of alcohol as a social activity. (It is probably a case of I could if I wanted to…). The Pape remains sealed but tonight I thought I’d treat myself to a tot of the delightful golden spirit.

It is a bit too strong to drink neat (unless over ice) and my mixer of choice has always been American Dry Ginger Ale (or Canada dry), as popularised by my former mates Møøse and Colin from the 70s City Hall crowd. These days, due to the shelf life of mixers, I tend to use Pepsi Max for the dilutant as I did tonight- or so I thought. When I sipped it however, I was surprised by the taste and quickly realised my mistake: I had used ASDA Dandelion & Burdock. An interesting juxtaposition of aromatic flowers and herbal spices , although I think I’ll stick to the Pepsi Max in future.

It is a rather sweet drink and Karen thinks it is rather like cough mixture, an analogy that I find rather off-putting when I haven’t had a tipple for a while.

Møøse used to have a spoof bottle that looked like Southern Comfort but was actually Sudden Discomfort; Mud from the banks of the Mississippi. I found one online at a collector’s website, link here.

Meanwhile, David has gone to bed and we have opened a small bottle of Gilberts LBV 2001. Small, because it costs more than £8 for 500ml, but it is the smoothest Port ASDA sell. (However the ASDA brand LBV is nearly as good). The Best Port I ever had, though, was courtesy of British Airways.