What are you drinking tonight?

[Steve Minkin]

HELL OR HIGH WATERMELON -- watermelon wheat beer, 4.9%, light taste, light flavor, light appeal.

[Steve Minkin]

DRAKE'S BLACK ROBUSTO PORTER -- Now that's more like it! Strong offering from an East Bay Brewery, Barley, Coffee, Carafa, Chocolate, 6.3%, lip-smacking tasty!

[Steve Minkin]

EINSTOK -- Icelandic White Ale, 5.2%, coriander and orange flavoring, light but distinctive and appealing taste. Nicely done!

[Steve Minkin]

Not for beer purists, but this is the best tasting of the hard soda varieties I've tried so far, with Madagascar vanilla and cinnamon.

[Steve Minkin]

WD 40 Malt Liquor

Brilliant packaging, local brew (Windsor, five miles south of here), drinks like a light lager but packs a surprising punch (6.8%).

[Steve Minkin]

BEAR REPUBLIC -- RACER X: I've never been that fond of IPAs, and my town's most celebrated brewery -- Bear Republic, a couple of transplanted NYers -- specialize in IPAs, and I've felt a bit bad about that. We eat at the brewery now and then (mediocre food, terrific location and patio). Their signature product is Racer 5, never did much for me. But I've recently come across their seasonal Racer X, a double IPA.

This may well be the best beer I've ever had. Rich, complex, malt, hops, hints of citrus and caramel, 8.3% -- like a great Mingus band, lots of elements seamlessly blended into a unity greater than the sum of its parts.

[Steve Minkin]

First rate seasonal cider! Pumpkins for Halloween. Smooth, sweet, sneaky.

[Steve Minkin]

Chimay Grande Reserve 2012 -- 150th Anniversary, 9%

Ne plus ultra, just right for watching the first game of the Western Conference Finals (having tracked the score at the dance -- nine treys for Steph!).

[Steve Minkin]

GOWAN'S GRAVENSTEIN HEIRLOOM CIDER (6.1%) -- my new go-to cider, edging out WILDCIDE with a richer flavor. With its old-school label and and its six-generation family-owned orchard in Anderson Valley (north of here, on the way to Mendocino), I've been drawn to the brand before, but hadn't liked the two varieties I tried. My daughter pointed me in the right direction for this one, the local Gravenstein variety -- OUTSTANDING!!

[Steve Minkin]

BOOCH CRAFT (high alcohol kombucha, which is a fermented tea). Very pleasant surprise, smooth, tasty, , lightly carbonated, sneaky kick, probiotic, gluten free, said to cure what ails you. I'll be back.

[Steve Minkin]

DRAGON'S MILK -- Bought it primarily because it's made in Holland, Michigan, a mere 20 miles down the road from Grandville, where my wife was born and raised. But this is a keeper, a whopping 11% ABV, a bourbon stout, as formidable as it sounds; best enjoyed over the course of an infinitely long leisurely evening, perhaps a night before a multi-generational New Year's gig.