From my brother: his drink, hands down, is the gin martini.
"Now while shopping at Trader Joe's last night I found a TJ's branded gin for $15 that is made on Treasure Island in San Francisco (of all places). Gave it a try when I got home, and it's excellent and a good value. Rather herbal and reminds me of Hendrick's, but has a stronger orange component (probably bergamot). Better with a twist or slice of cucumber than an olive (or worse yet, a cocktail onion, which are fine but only with London type gins)."
He added this, which maybe some of you can relate to and smile at if you've dealt with an aging parent:
"Funny story about Dad and olives and cocktail onions. I got in the habit of leaving a bottle of Bombay at the house and a jar of olives or onions. But every time I went down, I'd discover the jar of olives or onions had been doctored: with garlic, vinegar, chilis, herbs, flavored oils, what have you. He'd try to get me to use them in my martini, quite proud of the "improvements" he'd made, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling him that these floaty bits in my drink, not to mention an oil slick, were NOT an improvement."