@GF - Go with the sugar free versions of those (splenda 1:1 baking equivalent works well in the lemonade), changing the peach tea to Tazo Organic Chai (fresh brewed, not the sugary sweet concentrate) and the root beer to Stewart's Diet Root Boor (or Cream Soda) and you match my list pretty well. I live on fresh brewed teas (the only way to make sure they don't have sugar) and Tazo Organic Chai, Twining's Earl Grey, and a couple of pomegranate herb teas are my favs.

... MAN... You gave up carbonated beverages and caffeine? I would not be able to handle that, although I don't drink coffee, I like carbonated beverages..

You guys are so healthy.

1. Coffee
2. Ice water with lime (no sugar/splenda)
3. Non-concentrate full pulp orange juice (sometimes with diet ginger ale)
4. Diet root beer/ginger ale (I drink this sparingly)
5. Tea

1 - water
2 - dark-roast, French-pressed coffee
3 - peppermint tea
4 - English Breakfast/Earl Grey tea
5 - craft beer, usually a stout or other dark brew

Coffeeshops and brewpubs are some of my favorite places.

Lemonade
Orange Juice
Root Beer
Vodka Tonic
Merlot

besides water:

1. Sam Adams Oktoberfest
2. Anchor Steam
3. a good basic cabernet (Hess Select is a mainstay)
4. black coffee (on the stronger side)
5. OJ w a splash of pineapple

Non-alcoholic

Tea - English Breakfast with a splash of milk
Irn Bru - The King of soft drinks (and the most effective hangover cure known to man)
Pepsi Max
Blackcurrant & Apple squash - not too strong
Decent coffee

Alcoholic
Proper beer, from a bottle or properly kept and hand pulled - The UK has hundreds to choose from, why would you drink fizzy crap?
Single malt whisky
Rioja
Blackwoods Gin - soooooo smooth
And currently, because the weather suits - Pimm's with fresh fruit and lemonade

@ achilles27

It wasn't too much of a sacrifice. I've never really liked coffee unless it was loaded with cream and sugar (I'm probably the only non-Mormon police officer in human history to give up coffee) and the only carbonated beverages I miss are Virgil's Root Beer and this local brewery's cream soda.

And I'm not much of a health nut. I'll smash a good cheeseburger and fries just like anyone else. I work out and I am in excellent condition, but I believe that soda and caffeine are terrible for you. Caffeine is addictive, and God only knows what carcinogenic chemicals go into soft drinks these days.

I don't like caffeine, I just like having sprite like once a week or more....

5. Water
4. Hot Chocolate
3. Sauvignon Blanc
2. (Hot) tea
1. Dr. Pepper

@Gunfighter - second that on the soda, especially the Coke/Pepsi families. Something from a local brewery would be a bit more trustworthy (and enjoyable) in my book.

The best drink ever is the Spicy Caesar. It contains vodka, clamato juice (clam and tomato), horseradish, worcestershire sauce and tabasco sauce. Other ingredients added at the discretion of the creator (olives, pepper,celery, seasoning salt, almost anything).

It is exclusively a Canadian drink but it is unfathomable yo me why it has not spread. Bloody Mary's taste like shit once you've tried this. Pretty much everything does.

In no particular order....
Espresso coffee - Italians still make the best in my experience
Islay whisky - can't beat them
Tea - strong - English style with milk
Water - cold
Ricard - the classic pastis

but then I drink more wine than any of the above cos it's so cheap here - who needs soft drinks when you can get a bottle of OK wine for less than 2€! Oops - there goes the liver!

Hennessy Cognac (Vieux Carre for a mixed drink)
Chivas Regal
Long Island Iced Tea
Tea (A lot of different varieties, Early Grey tops)
Coke/Pepsi/Dark Caffeinated Soft Drink ;)

Which Hennessy do you prefer, obi? I know a little something about cognac so this is a test. :-)

@Lando - for those of us who don't like clams or tamato, both that and bloody maries sound like shit. :-) But do the same thing with V8 Fusion or V8 Splash and I might give it a try (or just use cranberry and/or grapefruit).

5. Gin, all kinds in most drinks
4. Unsweetened iced tea
3. Ginger ale, especially with scotch in it
2. Milk
1. Bourbon

The idea is that it is spicy and savoury, so adding sweetness would make it a different drink - could be good, I wouldn't know. I like the original. Gin Caesars are OK also.

Blended scotch with the ginger ale, of course.

Cider. The proper stuff. Green Valley make the finest I've tasted recently (the medium, 7.5% being the best of the best), but if you prefer the fizzy stuff then Sharp's Orchard is pretty damned good and Thatchers will do at a push.

Beer. The good stuff mentioned by Pete earlier. Variety is the spice of life, but you won't go far wrong with Tribute or one of the Bath Ales (Rare Hare takes some beating). If you ever get a chance to drink Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild you won't want to drink anything else again.

Tea. Call me a pleb but I rather like PG Tips. It's what you're used to I guess.

Whisky. Again, I'm not a big fan of the fancy stuff. I quite like single malt, but a prefer something a litle less refined. Something like Grants (preferably sherry cask) is more than good enough, and I enjoy a Jameson every now and then. I find bourbons pretty much undrinkable.

Milk. Milk is hugely underated. Bloody marvelous!

(Special mention for Irn Bru. It's not brewed, there's no iron in it, and it tastes suspiciously like those soft drinks you get in foreign countries that the natives insist is completely unique to them)

Seltzer water, lavazza coffee, ahmeds no. 1 tea, belhaven scottish ale, nonpasteurized milk

Chianti
Kilkenny
VB
London Pride
1664

1/. Camel Toe pale ale
2/. What the fox's hat (local brew)
3/. Golden shower pilsner
4/. Top totty
5/. Water

@Draug:

Hennessy V.S. is usually what I can afford (though Cognac is the real drink there, Hennessy's just my preferred brand, though I love Jacques Cardin as well, have a bottle of each...bought a Sherry the other day because...well...

It was Amontillado, the literature nerd in me HAD to try it!

And Shakespeare wrote sherry into his plays...so if it's good enough for Poe and Shakespeare...) ;)

5. Natural apple juice
4. Milk (skim, white)
3. Coffee w/ a little cream
2. Fresh lemonade
1. Cream soda

YUM!

@Octavious - Locally, I'd go for Wychwood or Wicked Hathern. Bottled, Orkney Dark Island, Black Sheep, or Theakstones Old Peculiar. Caledonian IPA is nice (best from the bar attached to the brewery)

@Putin - Belhaven isn't a bad shout. Best is an excellent pint

Oh. And vanilla stout is super tasty too

1. Tea
2. Wine
3. Scotch Whisky
4. Orange Juice
5. Milk

Water, bitter, very strong coffee and chocolate milk all ran them very close though.

5 Mickey's Fine Malt Liquor
4 What the fuck did you say to me?
3 Oh you wanna fight? Well lets step outside and I can introduce you to the guns.
2. I love you man! You and me we're like- we've got something speical man. BFF's
1. *passes out in pool of vomit*

Non-alcoholic:

1. Water -- no ice... just water. Love water.
2. Hot apple cider.
3. Mango lassi.
4. Hot chocolate.
5. Smoothies of various kinds.

Alcoholic:

1. Sake.
2. Mudslide (1/3 Bailey's, 1/3 Kahlua, 1/3 Cream -- mix thoroughly)
3. Peach daiquiri.
4. Dirty martini (dirty = a splash of olive juice).
5. 20-year tawny port (or ice wine, if I haven't already gone red).

After living outside the U.S. for a year in high school, I got used to sugar in my soda (instead of corn syrup) and when I got back, I wasn't interested in the local versions. After a while, I tried them, again, and found carbonated drinks unappealing, generally.

Re: coffee: Love coffee. But it gives me the shakes and generally stresses me out, so I don't generally partake.

Ugh... VS Blech. Try some VSOP or XO. I was afraid you were gonna say that. Seriously, invest a little and get some real cognac.

@TGM - Signle malt scotch! It and vodka are tried and true favorites. Glenlivet and Glenfiddich are my favs.

@Lando: Have you tried a Bloody Maru? It uses sake instead of vodka. Use the cheap stuff. It's brilliant*. My brother likes a Bloody Maria which is made with tequila. I think it's nasty, but -- just as an alternative.

* And by "brilliant" I don't mean, "oh, you solved a rubik's cube!" brilliant, I mean, "Nobel Prize in physics!" brilliant.