I admit it.  I'm part of the problem. The newspaper business is dying and I'm one of the reasons why (OK - I know that the problems of the newspaper industry are far more complex than just the fact that more people are reading the online editions.  There's the decline in ad revenues, the cost of newsprint, the fact that they failed to properly monetize their online sites, etc.). I used to get the NYTimes delivered to my apartment.  And then a few years ago I started to read the times online and well, that was the end of that. I actually prefer reading the paper online.  I find that I'm a much more focused reader that way. I go straight for the sections that are more important to me and don't waste a lot of time flipping through pages of things I'm not interested in. 

I like some of the newer features of the website, some of the blogs and the regular video features. But until this week I had not been a fan of their Proof blog. I thought it was just kind of silly.  And then last night I noticed this piece called Your Signature Cocktail, and all kinds of bells went off in my mind. 

I have always been, and suppose I always will be, a drink snob.  I drink big girl drinks. I'm a lightweight, so I'm only going to have one or two (which is a pretty recent thing, btw, I drank more when I was younger), but I'm going to have one or two real drinks.  Whiskey, scotch or bourbon. A Manhattan or another traditional cocktail. A good glass of wine or a nice (good quality) cold beer. No frozen peach margaritas for me. Or cosmos. Or daiquiris. Nothing that tastes like candy. I'm a strong believer that booze should taste like booze.

Now, I wasn't always so discerning.  I can still remember back when I was 19 and had started to hang in bars for the first time.  Well, a bar.  I went to college in a college town and there was one bar in town that me and my friends considered cool and hip and worth trying to get into.  One Friday night a friend and I got all dressed up in our party best and talked ourselves in (we didn't have fake ID) and once in decided that the "mature" thing to drink would be white russians.  I have no idea why.  I just know that that became our bar and our drink and over the course of the year we each gained about 15 lbs in white russian weight (they are so fattening).

Anyway, any guy who wants any hopes of ever getting into my pants best have matured past his own "white russian phase".  Because of all of the things I pay attention to on dates, what a guy orders to drink ranks pretty high on the list of things that matter.  No, I'm  not joking.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm completely cool with teetotalers.  There are lots of good reasons for people to abstain, the number one being that they're in recovery and I'm fine with that.  But if a guy's going to drink, he better not order something wussy.  Because I'd consider that a dealbreaker.

SINgleGIRL™ is an independent journalist and publisher of the popular blog
“Sex, Lies and Dating in the City” and a blog contributor to VinVillage.com

Click HERE to join us now!!!