MxMo XXXVI: Recession Gin and Tonic

This month’s Mixology Monday is being hosted by Matt Rowley of Rowley’s Whiskey Forge.  The topic, Hard Drinks for Hard Times, I’m sure hits home for a lot of us.  My 401K is down 8.9% for 2009 (don’t even ask about 2008), I have friends and relatives who have been laid off, overall times truly are hard.  Thankfully I’m in a lucky position working at a stable job that I enjoy.  That doesn’t mean I can’t do a little cutting back on spending though.  On that note I’d like to offer up my Recession Gin and Tonic.

Recession Gin and Tonic

2 oz Burnett's Gin
6 oz Canada Dry Tonic Water
1 tsp Realime or Other Bottled Lime Juice

1) Combine in a double old fashioned glass with ice
2) Enjoy
3) Repeat

If you’ve been reading CH for a while now you already know about my love of the squeeze lime, which I waxed poetic about for MxMo XXXII.  However, not everyone agrees with my use of bottled juice as is evidenced by the haiku battle that raged in my blog comments.  I’ll certainly grant you that squeeze lime, or really any bottled juice, doesn’t offer the freshness of flavor that fresh juices bring.  On the other hand, they do offer convenience and affordability, which is key to surviving tough times.

For this G&T recipe I’ve used Burnett’s gin.  I picked up my first handle of Burnett’s after reading this review by Jonathan Forester.  Jonathan nailed it in his review.  This is a gin that is very inexpensive but packs a good deal of flavor.  It has a nice amount of juniper and the citrus notes are strong enough to make it a great gin for a G&T.

Finally, I went with Canada Dry tonic water, my now favorite super market tonic water.  Clearly I could have chosen to go with store brand tonic water, but even though I’m going for an inexpensive cocktail here, I still want it to taste good.  I am actually drinking these afterall.

So how hard is this cocktail going to hit your wallet?  It’s not going to hit it hard at all.  It’s going to be like a kitten falling on a pile of pillows.

• Burnett’s Gin (1.75 L) $15.99 -> 2 oz $0.54
• Realime (15 oz) $3.09 -> 1 tsp $0.04
• C-Dry Tonic (6×12 oz) $2.99 -> 6 oz $0.25
• Total Cost Per Drink $0.83

Eighty three cents.  Try to wrap your head around that number.  That’s cheaper than a soft drink nearly anywhere.  It’s cheaper than a crappy cup of coffee from the vending machine in my office.  And to make things even more impressive keep in mind that none of the ingredients that I used were on sale.  If you were able to score these on sale I think you could drop your total cost per drink down to around $0.65 easily.  Bam! Recession solved…Oh, wait.  No, not really.  At least you’ve got a tasty beverage to keep you going though.