#1 – Beer

Beer goes with camping like peanut butter goes with jelly. So it’s no wonder that beer has taken the #1 spot for most popular drinks for camping. If you are car camping you can bring everything from a case of bottles to a beer keg with you. However, if you decide to do some real camping, you know like where you hike into the woods, or paddle upstream in a canoe, you will want to bring something that is a little easier to transport, like cans.

Typically 1 litre of booze will add an additional 1-pound to the overall weight of your backpack. Since everything you bring in you must also be brought out, you may find these tips to lightening your load for getting loaded very helpful:

Leave the cooler at home.
Coolers are not only unnecessary, but they can also be extremely heavy. Thankfully the great outdoors offers many ingenious ways to chill your suds:

Place your beer in a body of water. Find a place where the current won’t carry them away and your beverages will stay cold all day.

If there is no body of water around you could always use a sock. Simply wet a clean sock and put your beer inside. Hang the sock from a tree and as the water evaporates the heat will be drawn away from the beer, which in turn will cool it down.

Mix your own beer.

If you really want to save some room in your pack, you can always mix your own beer with Pat’s Backcountry Beverages (www.patsbcb.com/beer-concentrate). This powdered beer is light and easy to carry. All you need is a carbonating water bottle and some water. In no time you’ll be enjoying some freshly mixed brews.

#2 – Whiskey, Scotch and Rye

It can get cold out there in the wilderness. That’s why every camper, from the hiker to the car camper, should carry along a trusty flask of some firewater. A few sips of some good whiskey, scotch or rye and your blood will be sufficiently warmed to make it through the night.

#3 – Wine

Sure you cooked your dinner over a campfire, but that doesn’t mean you can’t class up your meal with a nice Chardonnay. A fine tetra pack of wine is a must have for any camping trip. Not only are the tetra packs easy to transport, both in and out of the woods, but best of all you won’t have to use that corkscrew option on your multi-tool pocketknife.

#4 – Cocktails

We couldn’t have a list of the best drinks for camping without including at least one cocktail recipe. And since a night around the campfire isn’t complete without having a least one round of s’mores we have come up with the S’moretini.

2 oz marshmallow vodka
1 oz chocolate liqueur
splash of half and half
chocolate syrup and graham crackers for rim
marshmallow for garnish

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, strain into martini glass rimmed with chocolate syrup and graham cracker crumbs and garnish with roasted marshmallow.

If making mixed drinks is not your specialty, you can always purchase premixed cocktails such as, Cosmopolitans, Mojitos and even Kamikazi’s that come packaged in lightweight plastic bags. Check out all the flavours available at Shot Pak (www.shotpakinc.com).

About the Author
Corey Rozon is a freelance writer from Ottawa, Canada.