A Drink With: Alex Taggart, The Syndicate DJ

Paul Ryding | Nov 28, 2013 9:00 am | Add a comment | 2963 reads

A Drink With ... is a regular magazine column in which we ask Beijing personalities to tell us about their drinking habits and liquid preferences.

Who would you most like to go out drinking with?
Mike Myers. Imagine drinking with Austin Powers, Doctor Evil, Wayne Campbell and Shrek all at the same time! Jim Carrey can come too if he wants.

If you could only imbibe one drink for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Okell’s Bitter, the local ale from my hometown. It tastes like brisk sea air (in a good way).

How old were you when you started drinking?
I grew up on a tiny island where there was little else to do, so pretty early. But the drinking age was strictly enforced, and I’ve always looked about five years younger than other people my age. I often had to resort to clandestine methods to get my booze on.

Tell us about the first time you were drunk.
I observed the great British adolescent rite of passage: sitting in a damp field near my house with two friends and a Thermos full of everything we could find in the booze cabinet. We knew that drunk people were supposed to do crazy things, so we moved the farmer’s hay bails around a bit. As I’m sure you can imagine, this caused utter pandemonium in the village.

Tell us about the last time you were drunk.
Temple Bar, last night. That place is a direct wormhole to drunkenness.

What was your first drink?
My dad used to work for a booze distributor, so from the age of about 11 I was frequently used as a guinea pig for drinks aimed at teens, like Bacardi Rio (the forebear of the illustrious Breezer). Sometimes I had no idea I was drinking alcohol.

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve done while drunk?
Signed a contract to translate a Chinese sci-fi novel into English. The author had invited me and two other guys to his home in Shijiazhuang, where he got us smashed on baijiu and talked us into it. It all turned out well, but there was a half-hour period where we became convinced we’d just signed away ownership of our vital organs.

Where’s the dumbest place you’ve gone drinking?
Vics.

You're hosting a cocktail party - what are you making?
The Boston Sour – the Whiskey Sour’s egg-infused cousin. Also eggnog at Christmas. In fact, anything with egg in it. The risk of salmonella makes me feel dangerous.

We're at the bar - what are you having?
Since I’m incredibly susceptible to promotional campaigns, I’m likely to pick whatever’s got the shiniest tap. Luckily, that’s normally Vedett.

What kind of drink are you?
I like to think of myself as an intense single-malt, like Lagavulin (although most would probably say I’m a half-finished bottle of Buckfast).

Could you organize a piss-up in a brewery?
That’s actually deceptively difficult. They don’t just let you drink all the beer, you know. They’ve got a business to run.

What’s your golden rule of drinking?
There is absolutely no such thing as good baijiu.

What’s your favorite drink? Has your favorite drink changed over time?
Since adolescence, every stage in my life has been associated with a different drink. Getting used to beer was a big one. Then I went through a very emotional gin and tonic phase, and a sort of fighty cider phase. I’m currently into rosé wine, and losing friends rapidly because of it.

What’s your idea of a good night out?
A few pints at one of Beijing’s formidable brewpubs, followed by seven or eight hours of dancing at Dada, Lantern or Haze, finishing up with dim sum at Jindingxuan by the Lama Temple.

Where’s your favorite place to go drinking?
I like noisy dance music clubs, but if it’s for a quiet drink, you can’t go wrong with a good hutong bar. Amilal, Mas, Slowboat…basically anywhere you’re likely to have to fight for a seat.

What are your secret watering holes?
I like to go to hostel bars and try to impress backpackers, then go home and cry myself to sleep.