$18 Mocktail Satisfies Craving To Waste Money

DENVER—Finding it an adequate substitute for the alcohol she used to consume during an evening of social drinking, local woman Candice Cooper told reporters Thursday that an $18 mocktail helped her satisfy the craving she still had to waste money. “It’s nice to have a drink that gives me that same experience of draining my bank account without having to get drunk,” said Cooper, 39, who sat at a bar in Denver’s South Broadway neighborhood sipping a 6-ounce nonalcoholic apéritif that consisted almost entirely of fruit juice but still allowed her to partake in the ritual of squandering, with tax and tip, well over $20 on a beverage. “I can’t drink booze the way I could when I was younger, and it’s such a drag to stop in at a bar and only be able to spend $2.50 on a Diet Coke. Now I don’t have to settle when I go out for drinks with friends—I can blow my paycheck just like everyone else!” At press time, Cooper had declined to give money to a panhandler outside the bar, saying the man would probably just spend it all on artisanal ginger beer or virgin cucumber gimlets.