It's just as well that I didn't discover this thread earlier - I would have spent far more time than I have on posting to it.

As it is, I will just share with you some of my favourite drinks - all tied to particular occasions.

At the end of a hard day's walking in the Cotswolds (UK) finding a pub that not only did B&B, but also sold Hook Norton Ales. I resisted the "Old Hooky", which is very strong, and spent the evening on their Best Bitter. Sheer Heaven! seraphicicon

A punt on the Cherwell at Oxford, drinking a very pleasant white Portuguese wine (Allianca, I think it was) that had been trailing behind the boat for the last hour in a string bag - on the opposite side to where we rather inexpert punters were operating, of course! Three bottles, six people. Beautiful day, shade of the trees, ripple of the water, birds in trees softly chirruping, pleasant, relaxed conversation as we put the world to rights and ushered in the New Age of Reason and Equality. Ahhhhhh!

Sitting on the beach at my friends croft at Loch Carron, with distant views of the Cuillin Hills on Skye, on a blazing hot day, drinking water by the pint. The water came four hundred yards in a pipe down the mountain side, from their own stream. It was a pale amber colour (Helen's right - if I'd said brown, y'all would have said "Euchhhh!") and tasted faintly peaty. It is, actually, the sort of water that really does complement Scotch! But we had the water straight, that day.

A very pleasant evening in "The Globe and Rainbow", Lamberhurst, Kent, with a group of my walking companions one winter about forty years ago. Lamberhurst is in the apple producing area of Kent, and this pub made it's own cider. The best of the brew was mixed with a secret quantity of Plum Wine, also made from the fruit of their own orchards. The mixture was then put into brandy barrels and matured for a year. When poured, it was a rich dark purplish-brown; when imbibed, slowly and reverently, it flowed across your palate and down your throat like a carpet made of rich satin.
They would only serve it in half-pint glasses - it was expensive, in one way, but a very cheap way of spending the evening, as you only needed three glasses of this glorious brew to feel extremely mellow. The crunch came when you got up to go outside to the loo (which was the other side of the yard!) A long and perilous journey, was that!