A little schnapps and cocoa.

Mmmmm. :)

Shivering in a snowstorm late last May I was introduced to Whiskey and maple syrup with hot water. Basically the same as Benjamin Rakestraw's "Dirty Water" from above, but with maple syrup instead of honey. (Mixologist was Canadian). Good stuff. I'll have to try the honey variant.

I like Cointreau and Ibarra (hard Mexican chocolate)- very nice. (boil the Ibarra in water first to dissolve then add alcohol after cooling somewhat if you don't want to lose all the potency) Even better is a Colombian version of cacao with "Clavos and Canela"- cloves and cinnamon.

Ibarra, the similar Abuelita, and the Colombian versions are hard blocks composed of just cacao (unprocessed cocoa), sugar, and spices- no milk or other pollutants. Goes great with the orange flavor of Cointreau (or Gran Mariner). I've tried Tequila and Ibarra- not my favorite. Also hot chocolate mix (Carnation Rich Chocolate) with Cointreau but the dried milk and emulsifiers seemed to be out of place with the alchohol- not bad just not as good as the Latin American versions.

EDIT: Looking online to confirm ingredients I just came across "Taza Guajillo Chili Chocolate" It's organic cacao, Guajillo chili, and unrefined cane sugar. Reviews call it "smoky" from the Guajillo chilis. I'm thinking this would be good maybe with Tito's corn vodka.

Edited by jimqpublic on 02/24/2012 11:59:57 MST.

The only Truly UL booze is everclear. 1/2 the weight of other hard liquors

It mixes great with tang and we named the drink spicy tang.

Urban Outfitters of all places has a ultralight flask!
http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=18791426

They don't have it online anymore but they had lots at the store here. Can't weigh more than an ounce or something. 5 bucks.

I've occasionally gotten a concentrated cranberry juice in a 12-ounce aluminum can stocked on the store shelves right next to all the other Ocean-Spray cranberry juice products. It pours like syrup and you'd want to repackage it. But pre-mixed with Everclear, that's dang light and better tasting than Tang IMO. Cut it with three parts water (40 proof or so) to drink.

Add and dilute any mixed drinks "to taste". Do multiple steps of small additions - cheap and basic ingredients taste pretty good when the sugar, alcohol and flavor are all balanced.

There is the old classic, Purple Passion.

50-50 mixture of Everclear and grape juice. For backpackers, you could use concentrated grape juice.

--B.G.--

Great comments here so far. I tend to enjoy my whisky strait but if you must mix, the True Citrus products are quite good. I HATE the taste of artificial sweeteners. The True Citrus products do use artificial sweeteners but the taste is far better than Crystal Light.

You can't go wrong with hot toddies: Whiskey-hot water-a little sugar- lemon-a few cloves yum!!

You take a lemon

Cut it in half

Squeeze out the juice

Take that and use it for beverage

That is what I would call true citrus

Was out in the ADK last month and two friendly neighbors from the north (Canada) who where sharing a lean-to with us had packets of dehydrated mulled wine. For the life of me I haven't been able to find it in the states yet. It came in standard square cider packets and tasted pretty good on a cold winter night.

Mixed drinks are fine. Warm some dark rum (the only kind worth drinking IMNSHO) add cold rum until it does not burn the lips; drink:)
I also love (most) single malt whiskies, and was introduced to a splendid US blend called "Maker's Mark" shortly after arriving here.
However, ANY booze is a bad idea when serious winter camping/hiking as it causes accelerated heat loss and reduced thought processing. OK when back in the cabin, Yurt or whatever, but not on the hills.

Hot Cider, with Tuaca. You can hit it with some cream/creamer/whipped cream too if you like the roundness that milk adds.

VERY nice. Cider plus vanilla is the flavor.

Come to think of it, you could do cider plus whiskey plus a touch of vanilla and get nearly the same impact.