LIST: Where to order bottled cocktails, spirits and other libations
The poet and writer Dorothy Parker once said, “The best way to avoid a hangover is to stay drunk.”
She had a point. But she also died alone and her ashes were unclaimed for nearly two decades.
Anyway. Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates Mexico’s victory over the French Empire in 1862, is hardly celebrated here, but we found at least one online liquor store that has a tequila promo (unfortunately it’s not for Patron).
Which got us thinking. Do we really need an excuse to have a drink in the comfort of our own home? Can pigs fly? There you go.
With the pandemic, the lockdowns, the sometimes-on-sometimes-off liquor ban in Metro Manila, drinkers have actually been spoilt for choice—which is so ironic it’s worthy of a round. But because people can’t go to bars (for a whole friggin’ year!), the bars are coming to their homes. Literally.
They’re not only delivering spirits and beers, they’ve thrown in classic and creative cocktails too! And some of them are packed so beautifully and completely—like Barcino’s sangria bottles.
You never would have thought you can have an authentic Caipirinha at home when you don’t even know where to buy cachaça! Now, just order it online. Or that you can have a pitcher of mojito after a particularly tiring WFH day and not worry about getting home because you’re actually in your pajamas with your Spotify on loud—not in a bar. How about a Rusty Nail that not all bars offer but now you can order it online?
These days, that’s just another Tuesday.
Me, I order spirits (vodka and whiskey) and enjoy them on the rocks—or I make my own cocktails. My fave in the last couple of months: Aperol Spritz and Whisky Sour. The latter I like making for friends who drop by on a weekend (one at a time, mind you).
The delivery services of online liquor stores are very reliable. In the south, I use Topshelfliquors-Alabang through Grab, and as the name suggests they have top-shelf brands (but not Botanist or Aperol, both of which are available at S&R but being a physical supermarket they don’t sell when there’s a liquor ban).
Now we can get soused like Dorothy Parker’s Alongquin Round Table or, across the pond, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Lost Generation—but that’s for another story.
In the meantime, here are some online stores to help you get through another newly named lockdown that’s still the same old one.
Boozy PH
Promo ongoing for tequilas to commemorate Cinco de Mayo.
The Curator
Apart from cocktails, they have coffee-based drinks too.
Barcino Wine
They make (and deliver) the best sangrias in town.
Sebastiao Cocktails
Yes, we’ll take Manhattan, please.
Top Shelf Liquors PH
A source for single malts.
The Rooftop Cocktails
When you can’t decide on one flavor, order three!
Alcohol Affair
The AA you don’t have to be anonymous for.
Booze Runner
It’s ginuman time.