hannah1001

Does anyone know where I can buy cheap gin?!

Winter isn't right without damson/sloe gin.... I've located BC damsons (after some searching and blank looks!) and now need the gin. I was obviously spoilt with the £10 Aldi gin in the UK... It just doesn't seem right to make it with super expensive stuff.
Anyone located cheap booze?

not2old

BC liquor store

Gilbeys 750ml for $21.99 which looks to be the cheapest.

Don't know what price it is stateside or whether it's worth a day trip to load up on Gin

MillieF

I couldn't agree more Hannah it doesn't seem autumn without the joy of brambling and picking sloes....I did plant a blackberry bush which turned its toes up after two years....do any parts of Canada have blackberries growing wild? Did any well meaning Victorians plant them anywhere you are that may have run amok and survived?

I have spent a few weekends killing Japanese Knotweed here in NB, the noxious winters haven't given the stuff any problems and it's thriving here...just not brambles!

BristolUK

As well as picking them as a child, I used to pick loads on the Bristol-Bath cyclepath in adulthood.

At first it seemed odd paying for them here, but boy are they beautiful!

Sometimes almost as big as my thumb, very juicy and no 'hairy' bits.

Not sure why but I expected to see you on a Gin thread.

Oakvillian

We found a good lot of blackberries a couple of years ago around Ball's Falls near St Catherine's. I guess the climate on the Niagara peninsula is kind enough that brambles survive the winters. Nobody else was picking any on the day we went - we picked enough for a decent family-sized blackberry and apple crumble... but I mustn't tell anybody about them otherwise the secret will be out

hannah1001

I completely agree about the blackberries! We paid to do PYO.... It was strange to pay but wow, worth every cent! They were huge and juicy... much better than UK ones.

That doesn't help me in my quest for cheap gin though 😉! I guess it'll have to be pricey damson gin this year!

BristolUK

Three options - bootlegging, smuggling or the legal one

Find some other item that is much cheaper where you live than it was in the UK. Then price up the cost of the Gin plus the other item in the UK and compare it to the Gin and the other item in Canada so the price here is better.

hannah1001

I like the idea! Only thing I can find cheaper here than the UK is petrol though. BC certainly is expensive! Though who cares when it's still 25 degrees and sunny, and I live on a lake? 😄

Maybe I need to set up a distillery. Not sure I can wait that long though 😉

BristolUK

There you go then, just don't mix the two up.

hannah1001

caretaker

Dr Bombay and I are watching Dr Strangelove together this afternoon. A friend in Vancouver used to rent a house with amazing blackberry bushes in the back, I wish we had them on the prairies.

hannah1001

Lunchtime gin drinking... I like your style! 🤣

I'm hoping I can grow some blackberries when we get our own place. I could open a PYO for expats... just ask for gin donations in return 😉

bats

LCBO sells sloe gin.

hannah1001

Never as good as homemade! 😉

bats

Depends on whose home! In the absence of sloes it's the only way to go