Gifting Mixers

[LittleJack]

Okay, I've seen a few times here that everyone brings too much booze and not enough mixers. It may be a bit odd, but I love a good bar even though I don't drink alcohol. I would thus like to help out by gifting the occasional bottle of mixer. My dumb question is what mixers would make good gifts? I'm not bringing a cooler, so it has to be something that could last in the heat until I gift it, possibly later in the week.

See you all oh so very soon,

-Little Jack

[AntiM]

I got some canned OJ, and I'm not talking about frozen concentrate. Cheaper than in the bottles. Donald Duck brand.

[theCryptofishist]

Cranberry or pineapple in the bottle or can, as the case may be...

[trilobyte]

I think Tropicana and a couple other brands do OJ in shelf-stable plastic bottles. Ocean Spray usually has a wide variety of cranberry juice variations in bottles as well. Club soda, tonic water, 7-up/sprite, any brand of cola, ginger ale - they're all good and keep at room temps. lot of grocery stores have bottles of lime juice or lemon juice that store at room temp. That 's a little off the beaten path, but in the right drinks a splash of lemon or lime makes something good into something awesome.

Powdered drink mixes would also work, but make sure you get something that doesn't need sugar to be added separately (since most camps probably don't bring out bags of sugar). Powdered lemonade, gatorade, kool-aid… just add water and you can mix any of those with staples like vodka or rum.

There are also pre-made mixers, though others will have to give you recommendations there. Margarita mix and bloody mary mix would probably be the easiest (the bar just adds booze) and pretty popular. There are a number of options out there and most are pretty simple to make. Again though, I'll defer to others who may be more familiar with them to make specific recommendations.

Hope that info helps!

[BBadger]

I like your thinking. Mixers are excellent gifts. I particularly like orange juice, limeade, and pineapple juice because they hide the alcohol flavor more for me, as I am pretty sensitive to the taste of alcohol. You can also gift limes or just non-alcoholic drinks with dual-uses (Cocacola?).

[theCryptofishist]

Tang. It makes Space Pirates go, Arrrr.
(actually only mentioned as an example of what crap can pass for a drink out there--you don't have to bring exotic european fizzy gourmet fruit drink...)

[danibel]

So what is the best cranberry mixer?

I went to costco today and was looking at the different types and I almost bought the cran raspberry because I figure that is a sweeter, but can any bartenders or cran vodka fans chime in with their favorite? Simply cranberry juice? Seems like it might not be sweet enough. TJ's also has some cranberry drinks. I don't buy this stuff often enough to know which is best.

I am bringing a couple of big bottles of marg mixer to give to my favorite bar as well.

[mudpuppy000]

So what is the best cranberry mixer?

I went to costco today and was looking at the different types and I almost bought the cran raspberry because I figure that is a sweeter, but can any bartenders or cran vodka fans chime in with their favorite? Simply cranberry juice? Seems like it might not be sweet enough. TJ's also has some cranberry drinks. I don't buy this stuff often enough to know which is best.

I am bringing a couple of big bottles of marg mixer to give to my favorite bar as well.

I fermented some of the cran/raspberry into cider. Tastes pretty good. If you want to judge the sweetness, just look at the calorie count on the label.

[danibel]

If you want to judge the sweetness, just look at the calorie count on the label.

Thanks for the sip! I will go with the highest sugar content!