Times Are Tough But You Still Want to Have Friends Over For Drinks

So you are at the liquor store and realize that all of the drinks that your friends prefer and you are used to entertaining with including of course the “blended” mystery drinks include a staple bar in your home of recognizable brands, specific, and definitely recognizable. Brands such as Absolute Vodka, Grey Goose, Bacardi, Patron Silver, and Glenfiddich, then there are the wines: Pinot Grigios organic gin , Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Merlots, and Cabernets add up quickly to a very expensive bill. You are in tough financial situation with the economy so how are you going to pull off your little mixer that you’ve planned?

Start with the easiest, save any expensive bottles of vodka or alcohol you may have accumulated in the past. Is there an Absolute bottle in the garage? Is there a nearly empty bottle of Kettle One in the freezer? If not, call on parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or even grandparents if they are social drinkers or even just business professional and entertainers with a small yet worthy bar on hand for visitors. Someone is bound to have a bottle of better vodka or one of your staple brands around. Go to the liquor store and buy the cheapest vodka or preference you can find. I found some, not from Russia but right in NJ, single charcoal filtered.

Bring your cheap vodka (or preferred liquor) home and put it in the freezer right away, or if not vodka then whatever temperature it would “normally” be at. Make sure it’s chilled before you pour it into your bottle of Kettle One. At most parties, people have mixed drinks, not many people are drinking vodka or other alcohol straight up or on ice unless they are your grandparents that have been drinking

for years (or shots if they are your friends younger yet now legal drinking age sibling), but they aren’t invited and you took their nearly empty bottle of Kettle One anyway. If you do get a random person at your party that does want the vodka straight up, make sure you show them the bottle you are pouring it from and that its chilled and talk about how much you love this type of vodka straight up as well. So your guest will think that you have as discerning of a taste for fine vodka as they do and they will not likely challenge a fellow vodka connoisseur, especially not if he’s a few sheets already, no hurt in trying to get the “on the rocks” and “straight ups” to try a couple of shooters and mixers before their natural tendencies tune in and they are in demand of their “comfort” drink.

Now in the case of wine this can go one of two ways. If you are an avid grape drinker yourself you can use your own empty bottles, rinsed out, as alcohol kills most things in the bottle, right? For arguments sake we’ll acknowledge after a time period mold and bacteria of course will grow in unwashed, well most anything. So, you can wash the bottles if you feel inclined, I haven’t to date and no one that I’m aware of has died from such practice or complained of anything other than not taking two aspirin and drinking a glass of water after consuming a bit too much of the “juice” before going to bed and then having to pay the piper the following morning.

Next go to your liquor store or grocery store and purchase the box stuff, that’s right, good ole’ boxed wine. The way it was meant to be served, it’s the “keg” for wine. Who throws a party with only one bottle of wine? And in today’s economy who can afford to stock a wine cellar? Yes, so the same trick I described for vodka will apply to the wine. Just make sure that you pour white wine in the empty chardonnay bottle

and red in the merlot and cabernet bottle, etc. Do not offer the alternative wines, the higher end that you obviously can not produce in a box stick to the same type of wine in the same bottle. If you are lucky enough to be throwing a party where all your guests are in another room and they are being served glasses then, you can of course leave the box wine as it is. But I advise that you still fill up a bottle or two, just in case you get a wandering, tipsy soul, as I have come across them at many of my parties. Take my advice, you will save money and after the first glass

, you will be in the clear. Then you can just sit back and watch everyone enjoy themselves, knowing that all of the marketing that goes into liquor is just that, marketing and that most people just want to get away from the humdrum, the stress, and relax with a glass of whatever their “poison” is and then they are happy and so are you for having provided, even on a tight budget, and even with the savings a wallet thin enough to require a chain to keep it secured to your trousers an enjoyable and memorable event that you too can relax and toast a “cheers” too!