Getting booze into the festival

[TwistedReligion]

Although the festival's search policy is quite liberal when compared to the ones at Carling and V, it is still obviously a no go to even attempt to get bottled spirits/beers into the farm.

So for one that leaves the question of what is available in the way of alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles?

But I was also wondering about people's previous experiences of transferring alcohol into other containers..

i.e. what storage was used, how has the quality of the booze held up, and what really didn't work?

[sisterofmercy]

The only thing that I've heard people have problems with is champagne. Most other stuff either comes in can or box form and you can always decant spirits into hipflasks and plastic bottles.

[rubenz]

I transferred a couple of nice bottles of red wine into a big plastic bottle last year as most boxed wine is pretty nasty. It was alright at first but as I could not get the air out of the bottle once opened it went a bit ropey after a while.

I will try some nice rum in a plastic bottle this year should be ok I reckon.

[Filthclough]

Last year I had a litre water bottle with a sports cap. Mixed in it vodka & coke. Everytime I danced etc, the coke fizzed up and sprayed out the cap.

Therefore I'd reccomend a non-fizzy mixer

[Yesiamaduck]

Get a Funnel & transfer liquids into plastic bottles and you should be fine. Or buy Boxes of Cider/Wine instead.

[Staggers]

Only really works for spirits and in my experience, my festival beverage of choice, Buckfast.

[coma girl]

Most non-carbonated drinks will be fine if decanted into plastic bottles.

Big bottles are good for carrying it onto site initially but I prefer something smaller for carrying around during the day so I go for re-sealable capri sun pouches

[sparkythetortoise]

Although the festival's search policy is quite liberal when compared to the ones at Carling and V, it is still obviously a no go to even attempt to get bottled spirits/beers into the farm.

So for one that leaves the question of what is available in the way of alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles?

But I was also wondering about people's previous experiences of transferring alcohol into other containers..

i.e. what storage was used, how has the quality of the booze held up, and what really didn't work?

[Spindles]

500ml water bottles with the popcaps, with the spirits in. Get a 1.5l bottle of coke from 24 hour shop, drink 2 glasses, pour 500ml of spirit in and you are good for the evening with 1.5l of vodka/rum/brandy/whisky/jd and coke (coke mixes with anything in my house)

[MrMac]

If you put vodka into water bottles the only real issue is when you take a swig from the wrong one.

[jimmystobo]

pour spirits and buckfast into plastic bottles,

buy cans of beer/cider.

i dont think i understand the question.

[TwistedReligion]

Only really works for spirits and in my experience, my festival beverage of choice, Buckfast.

[Spindles]

The main problem with getting alcohol into glastonbury is carrying it all!

I saw some brilliant sights in '09 waiting at the bath and west showgrounds. Group of 4 blokes with literally 20 or 30 cases of carling, badly taped together with gaffer tape onto a really piss poor aluminium sack truck. They had the bright idea to start drinking by grabbing cans from the edges of the stack like some kind of deranged jenga almost as soon as they arrived. Traffic chaos that year led to a long wait and after about 3 hours you had very pissed (and quite annoying) pissed blokes with a pile of cans falling apart and them trying to shuffle it along in the queue, scrounging gaffer tape and generally failing in any way to hold things together. I have no idea how they got on with actual getting on the shuttle bus, I was, thankfully, out of there by then.

[TwistedReligion]

pour spirits and buckfast into plastic bottles,

buy cans of beer/cider.

i dont think i understand the question.

[LusciousLucy]

If you put vodka into water bottles the only real issue is when you take a swig from the wrong one.

[jimmystobo]

Yeah getting cider and beer is obviously no problem, the issue is really how well a spirit holds up after a while mixed with a soft drink that is likely to get warm and flat pretty quickly. The pop caps on certain water bottles is sounding a good option so far...

[LusciousLucy]

If I am able to carry them in, 1 litre bottles of tonic/soda water etc are best for tippling from in the daytime. The vodka is decanted into empty ones before the fest.

I like to make Lucy Cocktail each and every year which is vodka, cranberry and raspberry cordial, lime juice (decanted from a glass bottle from Toscos ingredients section) and soda water. Tis my daytime swig until Cider o'clock and its fairly easy to carry round a litre bottle compared to the size of a 2 litre.

[StoneCircle]

How sad am I? I soak the original label off and sellotape to the plastic bottle!

Our cocktail cabinet in the caravan, yes seriously it has a cupboard to hold 3 bottles whilst being on the move! I then ram a further 3 in so it has Baileys, gin, brandy, whisky, Skittles vodka and Pimms

[TwistedReligion]

got some mount gay on order.

but the gin and vodka will be own brand.

drinking for 5 days out of plastic cups with warm mixers, it aint gonna be worth getting the good stuff imo.

Edited June 7, 2011 by TwistedReligion

[JiltedJames]

We usually have a couple of bottles of vodka/red bull on the go and some cans early on. There are far too many temptations on site, i.e. wine bars, cider bus, cocktails, to need much more. I can never quite remember how much booze we purchase on site after about mid-afternoon, but we never seem to run out of stuff we're carrying around.

[TwistedReligion]

The main problem with getting alcohol into glastonbury is carrying it all!

I saw some brilliant sights in '09 waiting at the bath and west showgrounds. Group of 4 blokes with literally 20 or 30 cases of carling, badly taped together with gaffer tape onto a really piss poor aluminium sack truck. They had the bright idea to start drinking by grabbing cans from the edges of the stack like some kind of deranged jenga almost as soon as they arrived.

[StoneCircle]

That sounds like heaven when you have been forcing down that fifth warm carlsberg of the day. Don't tell me you have an icemaker in there aswell! Travelling down by car this year so lucky enough to at least have some where to hold the bottles other than strapped to my back.

[bambina]

We bought vodka in foil pouches from Asda last year, They cost about £5 and have a screw top.

I bought lots of little fruit shoot bottles and topped them up with the vodka, very portable and not as vile as warm pop.

[jimmyk83]

Definitely recommend premixing spirits. Last year i decanted 1L of (cheapest) vodka into several 500ml plastic bottles, then topped up with a fex different mixers. I went with own brand red bull, cranberry juice and another juice (blackcurrant perhaps?). All held up well and were pleasant enough to drink in the heat.

Top tip if you dont have a funnel, roll up a piece of shiny card or magazine cover into a cone shape for easy decanting

[russycarps]

Isnt it easier just to buy your mixers at the festival rather than suffering horrific warm flat premade shite?

A few litres of rum in water bottles carried in, and cold cokes bought on site. Job done for this whopper.