What kinds of cheap booze would an alcoholic hipster circa 2007 drink?
October 7, 2015 3:20 PM Subscribe
Asking for a character. He has maybe twenty dollars until his next paycheck, and he has to stretch this amount over several days. What would said impoverished hipster buy? He is an alcoholic. It's like 2007.
Additional details: this is located in Brooklyn. The character is clearly an alcoholic but he is able to show up at work (albeit often hungover).
THANK YOU
Additional details: this is located in Brooklyn. The character is clearly an alcoholic but he is able to show up at work (albeit often hungover).
THANK YOU
Best answer: Aristocrat vodka? Cheap and efficient. A big plastic handle of that shit can be had for less than $20. Hipsterism doesn't enter into the equation when it's a choice between the booze and the shakes.
But he may pour it into a vintage hip flask so he looks cools while drinking his rotgut.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:30 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
But he may pour it into a vintage hip flask so he looks cools while drinking his rotgut.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:30 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: It makes me want to vomit even thinking about it, but Gordon's Vodka was definitely the go to among myself and my peers* when we wanted to get really drunk for really cheap. A handle was like $10 back in 2007, iirc. It even has its own urban dictionary entry.
FWIW, here's a chowhound post from 2007 about filtering really cheap vodka using a brita filter to make it slightly less terrible, which is in fact something that we did. Maybe your hipster alcoholic would like to do that as well.
*I'm basing off of being an alcoholic college student in 2007 in the Boston area. I went to school with plenty of hipsters, although I wouldn't consider myself a hipster. But also, speaking as an alcoholic, I think wanting to get the most alcohol for your limited money would be the primary consideration.
posted by litera scripta manet at 3:30 PM on October 7, 2015 [11 favorites]
FWIW, here's a chowhound post from 2007 about filtering really cheap vodka using a brita filter to make it slightly less terrible, which is in fact something that we did. Maybe your hipster alcoholic would like to do that as well.
*I'm basing off of being an alcoholic college student in 2007 in the Boston area. I went to school with plenty of hipsters, although I wouldn't consider myself a hipster. But also, speaking as an alcoholic, I think wanting to get the most alcohol for your limited money would be the primary consideration.
posted by litera scripta manet at 3:30 PM on October 7, 2015 [11 favorites]
Best answer: Your character is spiking his Franzia boxed wine with cheap vodka.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:35 PM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:35 PM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]
Best answer: Home-crafted Skittles-infused vodka. Before it was cool.
(I think it was becoming a Thing circa 2007ish, but it might have been a year or two later)
Possible bonus: It looks more like soda or energy drink rather than alcohol.
posted by anonymisc at 3:44 PM on October 7, 2015
(I think it was becoming a Thing circa 2007ish, but it might have been a year or two later)
Possible bonus: It looks more like soda or energy drink rather than alcohol.
posted by anonymisc at 3:44 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: Probably boxed wine (for extra authenticity points, have him discard the box and simply drink directly from the nozzle attached to the bag). And Pabst Blue Ribbon, duh.
posted by lovableiago at 3:45 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lovableiago at 3:45 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: what's the word? Thunderbird!
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:45 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:45 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: PBR? http://pabstblueribbon.com/
posted by slacy at 3:47 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by slacy at 3:47 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Also, Barton vodka. (I had written "Barton's Best vodka", but Google tells me that is not actually the name, and apparently just how my college friends slurringly referred to it. We used to run it through the Brita filter and keep it in the fridge. Cheers!)
posted by lovableiago at 3:48 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by lovableiago at 3:48 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: but yeah the person I know who most closely fit this description in 2007 was notorious for carrying around/drinking from the bladder from inside a box of box wine. As such, boxo (or boxo spiked with cheap vodka) is likely what this guy would be drinking.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:48 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:48 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Georgi is the cheapest available buzz I know and strongly preferred by all the professional drunks who frequent my local brooklyn liquor store. Not so hipster but it is the brand with the bikini clad women in the ads on the back of mta busses!
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 3:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 3:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Agree with others that, depending on how hardcore of an alcoholic we're talking about, it's either PBR (lesser alcoholic) or a handle of cheap vodka, filtered (greater alcoholic).
posted by ronofthedead at 3:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ronofthedead at 3:49 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Old Crow Reserve for sure.
posted by jordemort at 3:50 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jordemort at 3:50 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: A hipster in 2007, at least out in the west coast, would most certainly be drinking some form of bourbon, whiskey, or rye. I vote Old Overholt.
posted by joan_holloway at 3:50 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by joan_holloway at 3:50 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: For me the answer depends on just how far gone this character is. If they are still keeping up appearances I'd go with shitty lagers, think pabst, or if they were slightly more "sophisticated" something like old overholt (which at the time was way cheaper than it is now). For a more college student vibe perhaps something like sparks.
As others have suggested a plastic jug of rot gut vodka if their only aim was to get wasted.
posted by phil at 3:51 PM on October 7, 2015
As others have suggested a plastic jug of rot gut vodka if their only aim was to get wasted.
posted by phil at 3:51 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: I'm thinking Evan Williams Green Label Bourbon ($20 might have bought him ~2.5L of the stuff) or Old Heaven Hill Bottled In Bond (100-proof, $11-12 for 750mL).
posted by ourobouros at 3:57 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ourobouros at 3:57 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Beer: Steel Reserve 211 ("Steelies"), Natural Ice ("Natty"), Milwaukee's Best Ice ("Beast").
Clear liquor: Popov, Skol, Fleischmann's.
Brown liquor: Old Thompson, Evan Williams, Old Crow.
FWIW, an unsheathed container of boxed wine (Franzia, for sure) is often referred to as a "space bag."
posted by divined by radio at 4:08 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Clear liquor: Popov, Skol, Fleischmann's.
Brown liquor: Old Thompson, Evan Williams, Old Crow.
FWIW, an unsheathed container of boxed wine (Franzia, for sure) is often referred to as a "space bag."
posted by divined by radio at 4:08 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Dollar for dollar, boxed or jug wine is the cheapest way to get drunk. Round here, folks like to get the 99 cent 100 proof airplane bottles by the register, too. Our boy's gotta eat, though, so he'd be looking for canned beans and a small bag of rice taboot.
posted by stinkfoot at 4:09 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by stinkfoot at 4:09 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Seconding sparklemotion; The Dickel is cheap and drinkable enough that I still keep a bottle around for mixing, years after graduation.
posted by a halcyon day at 4:24 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by a halcyon day at 4:24 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: n'thing evans williams, franzia, pbr, and mad dog 20/20 (aka the good doctor). if it were west coast, i would also say two-buck chuck, but i don't know how prevalent TJs stores were on the east coast in 07.
posted by burgerrr at 4:29 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by burgerrr at 4:29 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: My boyfriend has been accused of being a hipster and in 2006-2007 had a very bad drinking problem (this was in Denver, though, Brooklyn hipsters may scoff). His cheap drink of choice was rum and Coke. Plastic jugs of rum, like this 1.75 L Ronrico, can currently be purchased for $16.99 and was probably closer to like $14 back in '07. 2-liters of Coke run about a buck or so. He could make a jug last several days, which is good because apparently a 1.75 L jug contains 39 "standard drinks".
posted by jabes at 4:45 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jabes at 4:45 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The whiskey-like substance that I drank too much of at a hipstery grad student party in 2006 (one in fact hosted by the guy who would carry around and drink from the bladders from inside wine boxes) was called "Fighting Cock." And let me tell you, that cock could fight. As a result of that particular case of overindulgence, to this day I can't drink (or even really be around) whiskey. Good whiskey, bad whiskey, bourbon, rye, scotch, whatever, I can't drink any of it because of that stupid bottle of Fighting Cock.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 4:46 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 4:46 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: Vodka, in a plastic 1.75 jug, here in the NE USA they label it SS Peirce, or Kimnoff, they just slap on different labels. It mixes with anything and might cost as little as $9.99
Those were the days....
posted by vrakatar at 4:55 PM on October 7, 2015
Those were the days....
posted by vrakatar at 4:55 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: If he's able to hold down a job, maybe he's together enough to be sourcing a refill for his homebrewing kit? From the prices there I'm wondering if he can't start the next batch even more cheaply from something on sale at the local homebrew store, and get some Beefaroni and PBR too.
posted by kmennie at 5:01 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by kmennie at 5:01 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: There's a photo of me from 2008 that was on the Wikipedia page for Hipster for years (no, I can't make this shit up) and we were broke as fuuuuuuck back then. Gordon's was the bottom shelf brand we'd buy a lot. Lots of Gordon's G&Ts with half-rotten limes. I also drank a lot of Seagrams Sweet Tea Vodka that I kept in the freezer and drank over ice or with real sweet tea (which you can make a fuckton of out of super cheap ingredients you likely have in your pantry), but that was just me, likely.
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:20 PM on October 7, 2015 [15 favorites]
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:20 PM on October 7, 2015 [15 favorites]
Best answer: I lived in Brooklyn in 2007, in Williamsburg natch. I still do. I'm thinking pbr and pickle backs. This is what you would get in a bar.
I also think think that 2007 might have been the nexus of the popularity of Sparks. Removed from the market shortly after. This is what you would buy from the bodega.
Most of the alcoholics I know go for vodka. I dunno from cheap brands though.
posted by rdnnyc at 5:56 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also think think that 2007 might have been the nexus of the popularity of Sparks. Removed from the market shortly after. This is what you would buy from the bodega.
Most of the alcoholics I know go for vodka. I dunno from cheap brands though.
posted by rdnnyc at 5:56 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm leaning towards Wild Turkey (faux ironic).
posted by unknowncommand at 6:05 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by unknowncommand at 6:05 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: Oh man, I forgot about Sparx. Definitely relevant in 2007 for heavier drinkers who like a little booze with anything/everything. Given the alcohol by volume vs unit price, I'm guessing that's more of a hipster splurge than a budget item.
posted by samthemander at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by samthemander at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Also, would this hipster potentially be a fan of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and/or Infinite Jest? Wild Turkey.
posted by unknowncommand at 6:18 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by unknowncommand at 6:18 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: I was more or less this person in 2007 and the answer is absolutely Old Crow. You could get two bottles of it for around $20 that year in Portland. We used to decide what bars to go to based on whether they had Old Crow as the rack whiskey.
A slightly better-to-do, slightly less alcoholic-on-his-last-dime hipster would have gone for the Old Overholt of the Dickel.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:28 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
A slightly better-to-do, slightly less alcoholic-on-his-last-dime hipster would have gone for the Old Overholt of the Dickel.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:28 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Evan Williams. Definitely.
posted by Pearl928 at 6:40 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Pearl928 at 6:40 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: 2007? Canadian Club. It was still dirt cheap but not bottom shelf. Just starting to enter a revival courtesy of Mad Men, complete with the ad campaign, "Damn right your dad drank it." So you get to drink the cheap booze and your friends still think you're reasonably with it.
posted by good lorneing at 6:46 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by good lorneing at 6:46 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Was painfully hipsterish in 2007
We almost exclusively drank PBR and sparks, and then four loko which came to my state right around then.
We were broke as shit and bought stuff like four loko almost exclusively. One of my asshole friends had done the math and figured out it was far and away the most bang for your buck.
Liquor was only sold in liquor stores, which is how it also is in brooklyn. Any bodega or gas station had four loko though. When we did make it out to a liquor store(there wasn't even one in my neighborhood!) we'd buy bottom shelf whiskey, like old crow. What the fuck was it with old crow? That was like THE whiskey to buy.
And seriously, sparks was HUGE then. And tilt. Whatever the cheapest highest percentage energy booze the store had was what all of us alcoholic assholes were drinking. If someone got good tips that day there'd also be a big pack of PBR or Raineer involved.
It's weird to see "definitely not beer". it was nearly nothing but beer and energy booze. All my east coast friends have plenty of stupid stories shoring up the same.
posted by emptythought at 6:55 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
We almost exclusively drank PBR and sparks, and then four loko which came to my state right around then.
We were broke as shit and bought stuff like four loko almost exclusively. One of my asshole friends had done the math and figured out it was far and away the most bang for your buck.
Liquor was only sold in liquor stores, which is how it also is in brooklyn. Any bodega or gas station had four loko though. When we did make it out to a liquor store(there wasn't even one in my neighborhood!) we'd buy bottom shelf whiskey, like old crow. What the fuck was it with old crow? That was like THE whiskey to buy.
And seriously, sparks was HUGE then. And tilt. Whatever the cheapest highest percentage energy booze the store had was what all of us alcoholic assholes were drinking. If someone got good tips that day there'd also be a big pack of PBR or Raineer involved.
It's weird to see "definitely not beer". it was nearly nothing but beer and energy booze. All my east coast friends have plenty of stupid stories shoring up the same.
posted by emptythought at 6:55 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Also, right after preview, yes to George dickel if it's going to be whiskey. I can't even touch that shit anymore. I remember "dickel makes you a dickhole" being uttered more than once. And yep, Gordon's 1.75s of gin.
posted by emptythought at 6:57 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by emptythought at 6:57 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: Another vote for the Dickel
posted by Alpenglow at 7:14 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Alpenglow at 7:14 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: In the hip corner of DC where I lived in 2007, the trend was Toward Overholt, Jameson if you could buddy up to a bartender enough to get locked in with them after last call while the staff drank and counted out the till. Otherwise it was very much beer focused (DC is hot, and cold beer feels good). Miller High Life was very hipster, possiy ever over ice if you bought the cheap, huge, I refrigerated cases of it and needed to drink sooner than it would chill. And yes, boxed wine was everywhere.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:52 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:52 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: I was waiting for someone to say Four Loko. Not for the trying-to-keep-it-together genteel alcoholic (that's any of the whiskeys people have mentioned) but for the slightly younger cool guy who shows up to your party and proceeds to get fucked up beyond belief and cause a shit-ton of trouble? That's Four Loko, for sure.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 8:24 PM on October 7, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by pretentious illiterate at 8:24 PM on October 7, 2015 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Half-pints of McCormack's - it comes in a plastic flask.
posted by j_curiouser at 8:27 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by j_curiouser at 8:27 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: I had to run off to work, so I'm just getting around to add (and apparently now, nth) that Franzia boxed wine was the other big go. Oh man, I remember breaking open the box to try to get the last bit out of the bladder. (Sangria was my personal favorite flavor, because I mean, why not.) That was definitely the slight level above drinking shots of Gordon's vodka. Probably a little more hipster, but somewhat less cost efficient.
Home-crafted Skittles-infused vodka. Before it was cool.
Yeah, I definitely remember someone trying out the skittle infused vodka thing, and that would have been right around 2007. Personally, I usually chased down my vodka with a rock star energy drunk, but to each his own.
(Svedka was the slightly less terrible, slightly more expensive version of vodka that we went for, but I think that's less hipster-y.)
PBR was also a thing, but beer is just never going to be the most efficient (in terms of cost/time/whatever) way to get drunk.
Another possibility, if he's feeling a little "old school," would be gin and tonic, with cheap gin, obviously. Maybe Gordon's or Beefeater's. Personally, I defaulted to Gordon's.
On preview: I don't think Four Loko was as much of a thing until a little after 2007. Also, again, I don't think it would be particularly cost efficient. And did that ever catch on with the hipster crowd? We never drank it. I thought it was more aimed towards high schoolers and maybe frats.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:29 PM on October 7, 2015
Home-crafted Skittles-infused vodka. Before it was cool.
Yeah, I definitely remember someone trying out the skittle infused vodka thing, and that would have been right around 2007. Personally, I usually chased down my vodka with a rock star energy drunk, but to each his own.
(Svedka was the slightly less terrible, slightly more expensive version of vodka that we went for, but I think that's less hipster-y.)
PBR was also a thing, but beer is just never going to be the most efficient (in terms of cost/time/whatever) way to get drunk.
Another possibility, if he's feeling a little "old school," would be gin and tonic, with cheap gin, obviously. Maybe Gordon's or Beefeater's. Personally, I defaulted to Gordon's.
On preview: I don't think Four Loko was as much of a thing until a little after 2007. Also, again, I don't think it would be particularly cost efficient. And did that ever catch on with the hipster crowd? We never drank it. I thought it was more aimed towards high schoolers and maybe frats.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:29 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: Okay, to summarize:
PBR would probably be what your hipster drinks if he's with other hipsters or if he wanted to maintain an already drunk buzz. Or maybe for a first thing in the morning pick me up. (If he's that kind of drunk). Also convenient to keep a can of beer by your bed, in case you wake up in the middle of the night and need to drink yourself back to sleep. (Again, if he's that kind of drunk).
Franzia and a G&T would probably be the standard compromise between cost efficiency and his hipster sensibilities if we're post pay day. Maybe he'd even celebrate pay day with a bottle of Andre's champagne. I think it was about $3.50 back in the day. It was definitely another go to among my peers, many of whom would definitely be considered hipsters.
But if he's got $20 to make it until pay day, and he's the kind of alcoholic where the number one priority is not to run out of liquor, then I think he's going to be feeling desperate enough to slum it with bottom of the rung Gordon's vodka.
And as he tosses back that Gordon's vodka, he'll probably hate himself even more than he already does. (I swear, it's like one step above rubbing alcohol. A very, very small step.*)
Thanks for one more reminder of why I'm so, so happy to be sober.
*Not that I've ever tried to drink rubbing alcohol. I did once try to drink Purell, but um, that's another story.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:51 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
PBR would probably be what your hipster drinks if he's with other hipsters or if he wanted to maintain an already drunk buzz. Or maybe for a first thing in the morning pick me up. (If he's that kind of drunk). Also convenient to keep a can of beer by your bed, in case you wake up in the middle of the night and need to drink yourself back to sleep. (Again, if he's that kind of drunk).
Franzia and a G&T would probably be the standard compromise between cost efficiency and his hipster sensibilities if we're post pay day. Maybe he'd even celebrate pay day with a bottle of Andre's champagne. I think it was about $3.50 back in the day. It was definitely another go to among my peers, many of whom would definitely be considered hipsters.
But if he's got $20 to make it until pay day, and he's the kind of alcoholic where the number one priority is not to run out of liquor, then I think he's going to be feeling desperate enough to slum it with bottom of the rung Gordon's vodka.
And as he tosses back that Gordon's vodka, he'll probably hate himself even more than he already does. (I swear, it's like one step above rubbing alcohol. A very, very small step.*)
Thanks for one more reminder of why I'm so, so happy to be sober.
*Not that I've ever tried to drink rubbing alcohol. I did once try to drink Purell, but um, that's another story.
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:51 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: He would have bought a bag of pills and sold them to 'friends' who bought him drinks. He would go clubbing every night to do this. He would lie to himself and tell himself that he was cool, he was the one making the scene, the clubs were cooler because he was there, everyone knew who he was because he was somebody, etc. He would make himself feel superior because he never took the stuff, he was better than all of them.
posted by myselfasme at 9:01 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by myselfasme at 9:01 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I don't even drink but BumWine.com has been one of my favorite websites for many years. Lots of good write ups there that will inspire your literary mojo.
posted by seasparrow at 11:12 PM on October 7, 2015
posted by seasparrow at 11:12 PM on October 7, 2015
Best answer: Evan Williams, Gordon's vodka, Sparks energy drinks, and PBR!
posted by aaanastasia at 12:34 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by aaanastasia at 12:34 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Cheap vodka for the win. Boston used to have a plastic handle brand called Cossak's, a NY version would be appropriate.
posted by emd3737 at 4:22 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by emd3737 at 4:22 AM on October 8, 2015
Response by poster: Oh my God, my alcoholic character thanks you from the depths of his boozy heart. And I thank you from the depths of my caffeinated one.
posted by angrycat at 4:36 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 4:36 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Everclear mixed with Gatorade.
posted by WeekendJen at 6:47 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by WeekendJen at 6:47 AM on October 8, 2015
I know this is my third reply to this thread, but i reflected on it some more overnight... and both the hipsterest and most depressing alcoholic person i knew at the time EXCLUSIVELY drank old crow. He was also broke as shit, and working at a dog washing shop(after having been fired from american apparel, after a disastrous relationship with the manager, if i can make this any better).
He only drank beer, or anything else, to wash down the old crow... or if it had already run out.
Dude bought that shit every day of the week.
posted by emptythought at 2:22 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
He only drank beer, or anything else, to wash down the old crow... or if it had already run out.
Dude bought that shit every day of the week.
posted by emptythought at 2:22 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by killdevil at 3:26 PM on October 7, 2015