Hard Drinks for Hard Times

March 30, 2009 4:37 PM

Mixology Monday is blog dedicated to hosting a monthly cocktail party. Contestants are given a theme and week to submit their best creations. February's competition was Hard Drinks for Hard Times.

If your 401(k) has taken a beating, or if you or a spouse or friend have been laid off, or if you’re simply hanging on to your wallet for dear life, you’ve probably given some thought to how the economy is affecting your basic expenditures—such as those you make for booze. Here’s a chance to share how you’re drinking during the downturn; whether it’s affordable booze, ways you’re cutting corners, or things you’ve figured out how to mix or make on the cheap, we need to hear it.

Some notable creations:
$1.76 Unwelcome House Guest
$0.83 G&T
$1.25 Old Fashioned
A collection of four beer based cocktail recipes.

And here is March's competition (which has yet to make it to the main page yet).

posted by mrzarquon (15 comments total)

Choice!
posted by mrzarquon at 4:42 PM on March 30, 2009

That budget G&T makes me so very happy to live in a place where tonic comes in 2-liter bottles for even less money, and limes are cheaper than processed lime juice.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:42 PM on March 30, 2009

Those all sound better than pruno. I am looking forward to drinking my way through this recession.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:47 PM on March 30, 2009

Okay, I am a happy imbiber of many gin-based cocktails, but shit, I'm kinda bored of tasting it in everything. These days I seem to find it at the base of half of the specialty cocktails in "temple of mixology"-type bars. I always assume that the reason it's so ubiquitous in current cocktails is because it was heavily relied on in classic pre-Prohibition drinks, but I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong. And are there hints of any other similar trend primping in the wings? I guess I was bitching about vodka a couple years ago.
posted by jeeves at 4:53 PM on March 30, 2009

Paul Clarke (creator of Mixology Monday, booze blogger) has an interesting article up about some Absinthe spammers, since it has just become legal, you will also start seeing that to spread into the various mixed drinks.

I think prohibition had a strong influence on the range of drinks made with Gin just because it was cheap to make (and tasted horrible), and was just a common spirit for the time (see: Gin Lane).

And trends go through the bartending scene, which really influences (in good bars) what is being served. A bartender in Seattle finds a recipe in an old book, tries it out, someone writes about it, it moves to New York, and starts to become a sensation. Granted, the bartender in this case is Murray Stenson, one of the best in the business.

Because of stuff like the Last Word, Chartreuse may start being more popular in bars again (bartenders stocking it now to make the Last Word will probably experiment with it to make other cocktails also), along with St. Germain which is just exploding on the market because it is one of the first actually new liqueurs, and gives bartenders a whole new range of flavors to play with.
posted by mrzarquon at 5:11 PM on March 30, 2009

I got a hangover headache from reading the "Hard drinks for Hard times" post.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 5:26 PM on March 30, 2009

I'd like to see a comeback of the Great Horned Owl.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:38 PM on March 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

I once managed to make a cocktail that tasted like Scalextric smells.

I say "cocktail", I mean "abomination."
posted by lucidium at 6:18 PM on March 30, 2009

I hang my head in shame noting that I have, indeed, drunk absinthe from a to-go cup. We didn't use a spork though; my host had a real spoon but only one good glass.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 6:44 PM on March 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

I am looking forward to drinking my way through this recession.

Of course, if the recession becomes a depression, we switch to all-Sterno all-the-time.
posted by jonmc at 7:13 PM on March 30, 2009

I am all for this.
posted by Monday at 7:35 PM on March 30, 2009

A couple months back, David Wondrich, cocktail historian extraordinaire, wrote an article for Esquire's website on the best cheap booze (at least in his opinion). Might be helpful.
posted by StrangeTikiGod at 8:00 PM on March 30, 2009

FTFY: Esquire article
posted by ryanrs at 8:17 PM on March 30, 2009

And so the Pabstsinthe remains a (nigh undrinkable) secret.
posted by snofoam at 9:04 PM on March 30, 2009

Cheap host hint (thanks gramps): Buy one bottle of expensive vodka, then refill with the cheap stuff. Dogs No one will know it's not Gery Goose.
posted by bonehead at 7:12 AM on March 31, 2009