A $22 cocktail for 1/7 of the price. And better.
let's call it happier hour
In a past life, I was a fashion editor. And also a person who was game to try pretty much anything for a story.
Now I am only one of those things, but the combo led me into some exciting places over the years. Including to the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It was there, trying out to be a ball person for the US Open (and failing miserably — more on that later), that I had my first brush with the tournament’s crown jewel, its major money maker, the star of nearly every Instagram taken in both the bleachers and in boxes: the Honey Deuce.
Tennis seems to come second in importance to the sweet concoction in a souvenir cup, which has gone up in price up from $14 in 2012 to a whopping $22 per drink in 2024. (Related: have you listened to our podcast episode about inflation yet? No? Why not? You’ll like it. There's even a Cardi B cameo!)
The drink brought in $10 million in sales this year, and it’s literally just vodka, lemonade and Chambord over ice. Oh, with an out-of-season honeydew melon garnish.
Now that I’m no longer a fashion editor, I don’t get fancy invites to the US Open anymore. And now that I’m in $7,000 of credit card debt, I also can’t afford to go to a match myself, let alone guzzle down a Honey Deuce once I get there.
So, in true Debt Heads fashion, Rachel and I started to wonder if there was maybe a way to improve on this fan favorite. And what do you know, we did! And, for just $3.30 per serving, you can have seven for the price of just one Honey Deuce (plus a whole lot of extra vodka).
What we dreamed up will delight & surprise you and, if you’re a tennis professional, potentially disturb you. But we promise, contrary to what the video suggests, no racquets were harmed during the making of a cocktail we’re calling:
The Honey Deuce is a Racket
Get it?
Please enjoy embarassingly-before-seen footage from my one day as a ball girl, along with the recipe for this new-and-improved libation, below.
Happy (more than one) hour!
J&R
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To make two The Honey Deuce is a Racket coupes:
3 oz vodka
3 oz lemonade
1 oz raspberry liqueur (we used something less fancy than Chambord )
juice of 1/2 a lemon
combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into frosty coupes
Garnish with ANY spherical green fruit that’s in season (frozen)