Alcohol Gifts

[dinks]

Fill a 5 gallon water cooler with bloody mary mix. You will be a hero to many.

[VeganChoirGirl]

I, like many others here, have observed the same thing. Mixers! Mixers, limes, lemons, olives...you get the picture. They are often more costly and run out more quickly.

If you want to gift alcohol to people, I think it's best to go with top shelf (if you can). Being a huge gin drinker a bottle of Plymouth, Bombay Sapphire or Magellan (the gin is naturally blue...so cool AND it tastes fantastic, sort of spicy and it's a strong 88 proof) wont go unnoticed.

Arround camp, it is always nice to have a few beers to offer to people or in your pack. I personally am partial to a hard cider in the afternoon heat.

But remember, not everyone on playa drinks! So be prepared if someone graciously declines your gift.

As far as wine goes...I can't speak for everyone, but at my home base a few rousing rounds of slap the bag usually begin around 4 or 5 and continue on into the evening. Take a bag (the inside of the boxed wine), slap to remove dust, hold over head, consume vast quantities, pass on to the next person. A fantastic way to spend an afternoon, it can get quite roudy. And, in fact, there are SOME decent boxed wines now. This also elminiates the glass bottle which can be a pain to haul home and an even bigger pain if they break and you have to clean the glass shards out of the dust in camp.

[gidget]

no one really drinks wine on the playa.

I do! And not Franzia either....

I plan on bringing a few bottles of my private reserve out from the cellar, including a leftover bottle of champagne from my wedding last year, which my husband and I will enjoy in our crystal wedding flutes out in open playa at sunrise or sunset.

[drletawdry]

Mixers, yes! And Ice! I like to get extra ice when I go to the ice truck and gift it to the bars along the way. The bars LOVE ice!

[theCryptofishist]

I am going to defend Steve's honor by remarking that the Booby Bar does not accept gifts of wine. It's opened, the donor drinks a glass, and that's it. We're left at the end of the event with three bottle mostly filled with vinegar.
Which is not to say that other people and other bars might not love a bottle.

[Leo]

Thanks everyone for your advice. It looks like I will be packing and gifting mixers, rather than alcohol this year. As far as wine goes, I packed some decent boxed red wine last year and it was acceptable throughout the entire week.

[EmilyD]

Belvedere vodka and olives are ALWAYS welcome at our camp. I will bring a dozen acrylic martini glasses in anticipation!

Mmmmm olives, the main reason for martinis! We'll be supplying gin and I found stainless steel glasses one of those fancy schmancy kitchen supply stores. I have been stocking up on almond-stuffed olives from the Olive Pit (Hwy 5 in California). They're the BEST!!! And this is now my favorite gin (locally brewed in Napa, CA) http://www.209gin.com/history.chtml. Back up is of course Bombay Sapphire.

[EmilyD]

We're left at the end of the event with three bottle mostly filled with vinegar.

Perfect for foot washing yes?