65% of U.S. adults 21 and over drink alcoholic beverages.   This Gallup poll annual percentage dipped to 55% in 1958 and rose as high as 71% in the 1970s.   However, for households annually earning $100,000 or more, this rate is 80% for 18 and over adults.  Those homes earning less than $40,000/year has a rate of 49%. While in 1992 beer was favored by 47%, with 27% for wine and 21% for spirits, in 2022 this disparity narrowed to 35% beer, 31% wine and 30% spirits. Drinks international released its annual list of the  most popular liquor ( or distilled spirits ) brands  in the world.  In this list of the top 30, only 2 gins made the cut.  Here are a few of them, and you will be surprised. #30 Aperol:  a bright orange Italian bitter, it was created in 1919 and is used in spritzes. #29 Jagermeister:  a German digestif, I noticed it was able in South Korean movie theaters. #28 Gordon's Gin:  dates back to 1769, a bottle is sold every six seconds. #24 Ballantine's Scotch Whisky. #23

My world adventure has not started yet, but I did just complete a Netflix Korean series, which inspired two follow-up meals featuring one of their popular alcoholic drinks that dominated in the show and, it turns out, also throughout the world.  Jinro Soju sells three times the volume of its nearest competitors, which are McDowell's No. 1 Whisky and Officers's Choice, both from India. Crash Landing on You was a marathon event.  Rated 98 by Rotten Tomatoes audiences, the series had 16 episodes, each about an hour and a half long, with a finale of two hours.  Add them up, and you get 24.5 hours, the equivalent of twelve films. For two decades now I've felt that the best films came from Korea.  My frequent international travels meant that I watched quite a number of them on the flights, and there was something special about productions from that country.  They get to you emotionally.  That gave me an inkling of those Korean soap operas ( also called dramas ) so popular in H