T-Mobile's latest marketing gimmick is a "5G Mixology" kit with bottles of gin, lime juice, bitters, tonic, and a glass. By the time I found out what it was selling, I was already a few fingers down.
The kit appeared at my house without any real explanation, embargoed for today. A caption in the kit says it's "to commemorate T-Mobile and Sprint uniting to build the country's largest, fastest, most advanced 5G network." A few days later, I found out from T-Mobile's president of technology that its new $30 "5Gin" and $10 six-packs of "5Ginger Beer" (not included in my kit) are to celebrate the company hitting 150 million Americans covered with mid-band 5G, and 300 million covered with low-band.
The whimsical carrier is known for sending swag to analysts and journalists. There were giant pink onesies.
There was a box of cake mix.
It's silly like that. This time around, is it saying 5G is intoxicating? Flavorful? Or is it just playing with "mixing" Sprint and T-Mobile? I spent some time exploring the issue and found that a powerful 5Gin downlink works best with some sort of 4G mixer, like tonic.
I've been involved with mobile-phone mixology for more than a decade. In 2009, I commissioned a BlackBerry Bold cocktail from the bartenders at New York's then-famous Campbell Apartment. Longtime PCMag staffers will also remember the horror that was the "PCMag-a-Rita."
So how's the drink? T-Mobile's gin is a rebranded Heritage Distilling Company Elk Rider Gin, a corn-based, 94-proof spirit. The flavor is mostly neutral with just a touch of pine. There's a little citrus on the nose. But mostly it's a dry gin. I'm drinking it at 11 a.m. as I write this. I love my job. Personally, I prefer crazy botanical gins full of herb and berry flavors, but this is a "gotta start somewhere" kind of gin.
I do feel that T-Mobile missed a chance to use a pink gin. Montreal-based distiller Romeo's Gin has a pink, watermelon-flavored gin that's, okay, very cucumbery, but makes a fine summer drink and would go well with the brand here
I'm just now finishing up my review of T-Mobile's home internet service, and we're putting cars on the road next month to test the new "ultra capacity" 5G network for our Fastest Mobile Networks series. But don't worry. I'll write them sober.