Food, Home and Style

Downturn’s Up!

The Sex and the City ladies may have been content sipping on Cosmopolitans at the city’s poshest restaurants on a nightly basis, but today’s economy calls for something different.

Luckily, savvy bartenders from around the country have stepped in the fill the void, creating recession-themed cocktail recipes that anyone can make at home.

Whether you’re throwing a recession-themed party or drowning your sorrows with a group of recently laid off friends, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite downturn drinks from around the Web.

Millionaire-No-More Mojito
VF Daily’s cocktail recipes are inspired by current events, which helps explain why the blog’s drink recipes took a decidedly recession-related turn towards the beginning of the year.

1.5 oz. 10 Cane rum
.5 oz. simple syrup
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
8 to 10 mint leaves
Splash of Moët & Chandon champagne
Mint sprig
Cracked ice
Use muddler to combine simple syrup and mint leaves in a glass. Fill with ice, and add rum and lime juice, and stir gently. Top with champagne and garnish with mint sprig.

The Manhattan Foreclosure
The Debtress Blog offers readers tips on how to stop stressing about the economy—one of which is to make a few fun drinks and enjoy a cheap night in.

2.5 ounces of bourbon
.75 ounces of sweet vermouth
Mix well. Serve with foreclosure note as cocktail napkin.

Rescue Package
Cocktail Nirvana’s “self-proclaimed mixologist” says he took inspiration from the skidding economy when coming up with recession-themed cocktails that are easy to serve at house parties.

15 ml of vodka
15 ml of white rum
15 ml of gin
5 to 6 strawberries
Watermelon chunks
Splash of cranberry juice
Grapes
Cracked ice
Blend vodka, rum, gin, watermelon, and strawberries together with ice. Pour into hurricane glass and top with cranberry juice. Garnish with dark grapes and a black straw.

Pink Slip Cocktail
Fans of Hiram Walker schnapps, liqueurs, and brandy will be happy to know that the alcohol brand has come out with a few downturn drinks of its own.

1 part ABSOLUT raspberry vodka
1 part Hiram Walker pink grapefruit schnapps
4 parts cranberry juice
Grapefruit chunks
Combine and serve in tall glass filed with ice. Garnish with grapefruit chunks.

Recession Gin and Tonic
Cocktail Hacker’s Reese Lloyd writes that he was inspired by the topic of ‘Hard Drinks for Hard Times’ when he came up with this concoction, which he claims can be made for as little as 83 cents.

2 oz Burnett’s gin
6 oz Canada Dry tonic water
1 tsp Lime or bottled lime juice
Combine in double old fashioned glass with ice.

Is the Recession Over?
On a positive note, the folks at VF Daily must be feeling better about the economy, since their latest current-events-inspired drink—created by Bond Street Beverly Hills executive chef Brian Redzikowski—was apparently inspired by the stabilizing economy.

16 oz. vodka
2 oz. crème de cassis
8 oz. fresh blueberries
Combine all ingredients in pitcher. Infuse in the refrigerator for one week.

Tags: cocktails, food