Brews & Eats
First date drinks: What does your choice of tipple say about you?

By Darren Willmott

First dates are one of life’s scary moments, surely ranking alongside other horror appointments such as job interviews and driving tests.

Worse still, whilst you’re trying to be all calm and suave, many things you subconsciously do could be giving away all sorts of signals to your date before you’ve even realised what you’ve done. Whilst you should be able to navigate the obvious pitfalls such as not forgetting the other person’s name, a recent study suggests that what you choose to drink has just as much of an impact as to whether the evening will be a success or not.  Nearly half of all respondents suggested that a wrong choice of drink would put them off their date straight away. Whilst there are a few easy wins when it comes to your order, such as not getting your courage up by kicking things off with a round of shots, or believing that you ‘get better with drink’ and ordering way too much, how do you judge it just right? Perhaps playing against initial expectations, the study found that men are actually a touch more picky on the subject of what to drink on a date than women are, with 70% of men making snap judgements compared to just 30% of women. After shots, which ranked as the most ‘unattractive’ drink you could choose on a first date, the seemingly innocent orders of cider and beer were next up on the no-no list.  Potentially because a chap ordering a pint may be seen as too laddish, or maybe because a man may feel intimidated by a woman ordering one, it seems best to steer away from the humble pint on date night. Strangely, for those playing it super-safe and only drinking soft drinks, this could equally work against you.  As alcohol is well known to oil the wheels of a good time, the soft drink option could be viewed as a sign that a person is not really getting into the date, or that they aren’t a fun person to be with. Sticking to soft drinks could also subconsciously force the other person to opt for them too in order to remain at the same level of sobriety, potentially spoiling their evening. As perhaps expected, along with the sophisticated cocktail (don’t order the ones with silly or suggestive names), drinking wine was the clear winner for a date.  90% of those surveyed said that drinking red wine was perfectly acceptable, and a poll-topping 100% of responders said that drinking white wine was absolutely fine.   Even when choosing the wine option there’s probably still a little room for caution, such as not moving too casually on to a second bottle, or choosing the cheapest bottle on the list. Whilst these bottles are not necessarily bad, there’s a solid stigma and some truth to the fact that they don’t offer the best value. You don’t need to pretend that you know loads about wine either, if you don’t.  Allowing your date to choose the wine is not only chivalrous but cheekily delegates the decision, and exploring each other’s wine likes and dislikes is also a great way to find common ground. Cheers! Read Darren’s blog at vinesight.me

  • First date drinks: What does your choice of tipple say about you?
  • First date drinks: What does your choice of tipple say about you?
  • First date drinks: What does your choice of tipple say about you?