What should I be expecting to pay for the following?!
I've never drank with the purpose of getting drunk before (ie: new year's champagne toast, the occasional glass of wine on other holidays, etc), however, I've made different plans for my 21st xD
I'm being responsible and staying in, or rather, not going out to any bar. However, I'm going all out and am wanting my first "legal" drink to be an L.I.T. (Long Island Iced Tea) - recommended by a friend. Since I'm staying in, I'll be needing to make them myself. The recipe I intend on using calls for the following: Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, and Orange Liqueur (Triple Sec). I am creating my own sweet & sour mix, and am aware of the coca-cola and lemon wedge, so don't worry about those ;)
Being a "newbie" to the harder stuff, I have no clue as to what brands I should be purchasing and their average price range. If you could provide me with a mid-shelf or cheaper top-shelf brand recommendation for each type, I would appreciate it greatly. I''m not sure what to expect price-wise, but am giving myself an allowance of $150 - @$30 max each?? Please keep in mind that the recipe calls for all white/clear ingredients. Thanks in advance =)
Answers:
The Long Island Iced tea was the first cocktail that I ever made myself when I turned 21. For the vodka I would recommend spending between $12 and $20 on a bottle (750ml). I recommend a brand like Skyy ($15), Absolut (~$18), Tito's (~$17), or even Smirnoff ($13) will do. The brand of vodka is not all that important, to be honest. It does not add much depth of flavor to the cocktail but I recommend a mid-shelf vodka at least because it can be used for other cocktails later on if you want it too.
The Gin is a bit of a tricky one to pick out. You can spend from between $8 and $30 to buy a good gin for that drink. If you plan on using the gin for cocktails like a Gin and Tonic later on, I would recommend Tanqueray London Dry ($18) or Gordon's (~$9). Both these gins have a very strong juniper flavor. If you are looking for a sweeter, more citrus-like gin, try New Amsterdam ($10) or Seagram's ($9). Many people say the Bombay Sapphire (~$24) is one of the best all around gins out there, it is very good, but a bit pricey.
For a white rum, I would recommend Bacardi ($13) or Cruzan ($11). These are both inexpensive, but I found that they are among the best for mixing. Cruzan is my favorite rum for mixing any drink, especially the LIIT.
You can go a lot of routes with the orange liqueur. For the LIIT, I prefer to simply use an inexpensive triple-sec. My favorite to use is Hiram-Walker ($8). You can also go the "classy" route with Cointreau ($35) although, I would not recommend putting a liqueur that expensive in the LIIT. If you want, for a couple dollars more than a triple-sec you can buy clear curacao. While triple-sec is very sweet and syrupy, curacao is a bit more bitter. It has a bit of an orange peel flavor to it. I recommend any triple-sec you can find for between $8 and $15.
Make sure you understand what I type next. DO NOT BUY A TEQUILA THAT IS NOT 100% AGAVE, unless of course, you want a splitting headache and no recollection of the previous night the next morning...oh yeah...and it might make you gag pretty bad too if its not 100% de agave. I know the recipe calls for white tequila, but either white or repasado will do fine.I recommend El Jimador (~$20) or Azul ($18). If you cannot find those, 1800 is a good brand ($25), Patron (~$40) will do as well, although it is overpriced in my opinion. Anything 100% de agave should be fine though. If you cannot find anything like that, just go with Jose Cuervo Silver or Gold (~$20), do not go much cheaper though.
The total cost, the way I would do it (Skyy, Gordon's, Cruzan, El Jimador, Hiram Walker) would be about $63 before taxes and not including non-alcoholic ingredients. You do not need to spend top shelf prices for a good LIIT.
I buy all my liquor in Kentucky, so my prices should be pretty close. The overall tax on all this should be between $4 and $9. The LIIT is a great starter drink, it started my enthusiasm for coktails. Let me know if you have any questions or need any tips, I am always glad to help with peoples alcohol dilemmas.
not sure about kentucky but for oregon if you go to the following site it has prices for stuff: oregonliquor.com, I would assume kentucky has something similar but haven't looked
The answer is going to vary greatly depending on where you live because state sin-taxes on liquor vary GREATLY from state to state. So, if you're someplace expensive (like WA, OR, or AK) your costs might be TWICE as high as they are in the cheaper states.
As for the LIT, the bars these are so popular in use the cheapest possible liquor. How can this be true if they taste so good? Simple, a little of each liquor doesn't impart too much flavor, and the two syrups (sweet n sour and cola) cover it all up nicely. So, if you only want them for mixing drinks, buy whatever comes in a plastic bottle. These run $10 or $15 each in a reasonable state, meaning you can buy a 750 of each in the $50-$75 range. In the more expensive states it will be quite a bit higher.
If you're buying liquor to drink shots, with tonic (or to impress the ladies), that is another story entirely. But, for a simple LIT, anything will do. There is an important lesson here - when making MIXED drinks, the quality of the mixing is way more important than the quality of the liquor. The quality of the liquor really only matters for shots, straight up drinks, and drinks with tonic. Once you add fruit juice, it basically ruins the quality of the liquor anyway, so who cares!
my dead liver