TV INSPIRES COCKTAILS
Bartenders find influences in pop culture
“I prefer wildfire, my lady,” Tyrion Lannister tweeted to me last spring after I asked the imp, a popular character on the HBO hit Game of Thrones, his favourite cocktail.
Our spirited exchange was prompted by a Popsugar cocktail story featuring six drinks inspired by the show, including the White Walker, the Targaryen and Blood of the Dragon. Naturally, I turned to Twitter to see what the Tyrion Lannister spoof account, @GoT_Tyrion, would drink.
It’s not just the dragons-and-dire-wolves drama acting as a catalyst behind the bar.
With the Golden Globes behind us and the Oscars on the horizon, spirits labels and restaurants are promoting cocktails inspired by the big and small screens.
There’s an Absolut La La Land cocktail made with Absolut vodka, cranberry and pomegranate juices, and lemon-lime soda.
Or, try Ford’s Final Narrative or the Blood Arroyo, two drinks that toast the new HBO thriller Westworld.
For a bubbly Oscars cocktail there’s the Elle, created to toast French actress Isabelle Huppert, who’s nominated for best actress for her role in the film. Fittingly, the Elle features two French spirits: Cointreau orange liqueur and Piper-Heidsieck Rose Sauvage (Piper-Heidsieck is also the official champagne of the Academy Awards).
Calgary bartenders are getting in on the fun with whimsical drinks like Demogorgon popping up on menus.
“People are like, ‘Ha ha, Demogorgon! Did you guys watch Stranger Things?’ It can be a real conversation starter,” Cannibale bartender Evan Cooper says about his drink, which is named after a Dungeons & Dragons demon that was featured in the Netflix show.
Cooper went all out designing the drink, the surface of which is supposed to represent the evil underneath world on the program.
“The whole drink is like that giant black lake and the garnish is the island in the middle,” he says.
Before you geek out on that (trust me, as a fan of the show, the thought Cooper has put into this is pretty cool), consider some other TV-themed cocktails to swallow at local watering holes.
The Guild on Stephen Avenue (and its subterranean speakeasy Sub Rosa) makes the Dire Wolf, a nod to the orphaned wolves adopted by the Stark children on Game of Thrones.
“In the show, the dire wolf is synonymous with cold winter. It’s powerful,” bartender Austin Purvis says. Likewise, his cocktail is strong and makes a warming sip on a chilly February night.
“And if you drink it during a full moon, you turn into a dire wolf,” Purvis jokes.
Over at Proof, bartender Jeff Savage makes the Laura Palmer, a boozy twist on its non-alcoholic cousin, the Arnold Palmer.
Originally the drink’s name was just a pun, but Savage was delighted when customers caught the Twin Peaks reference (Laura Palmer was a character on the original TV series). When Twin Peaks returns this spring, Proof may see a bump in Laura Palmer sales.
And when the highly anticipated Season 7 of Game of Thrones premieres this summer, you’ll find me and Tyrion celebrating with an appropriately nerdy cocktail.
LAURA PALMER
Add bourbon, honey and bitters to an Arnold Palmer and you get Laura, a tastier, edgier alcoholic twist on the original mocktail.
2 oz (60 mL) Bulleit bourbon 1 oz (30 mL) lemon juice 0.5 oz (15 mL) black tea syrup (see recipe)
0.25 oz (7 mL) honey syrup (combine 2 parts liquid honey with 1 part boiling water, stir together and let cool)
2 dashes Angostura bitters Lemon wheel
1. Combine all ingredients except lemon in a shaker tin and shake with ice until diluted. 2. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with lemon. Black tea syrup
2 cups (475 mL) water
2 cups (475 mL) white sugar 1 black tea bag
1. Combine sugar and water over heat until sugar is dissolved. 2. Remove from heat, add tea bag and let steep 5 minutes. 3. Remove tea bag, cool and store syrup in the fridge. Recipes courtesy Jeff Savage, Proof
DIRE WOLF
This aromatic and spirit-forward drink tastes of honey, vanilla, caramel and cognac spiced with cinnamon and star anise. With a wildfire-like flame added to the Dire Wolf before serving, it’s what Tyrion, Daenerys and Jon Snow should be drinking.
2 oz (60 mL) Hardy XO rare fine champagne cognac
0.25 oz (7 mL) yellow Chartreuse
0.5 oz (15 mL) Galliano
3 star anise
0.5 oz (15 mL) Bacardi 151 rum Orange zest
1. Add all ingredients, except Bacardi 151, to a brandy snifter and place atop a rocks glass filled with hot water.
2. Add Bacardi 151, set drink afire with a match and spin the brandy snifter for 40 seconds.
3. Blow out the flame and transfer contents to a fresh snifter at room temperature. Howl at the moon and savour your Dire Wolf.
Recipe by Austin Purvis, The Guild and Sub Rosa
DEMOGORGON
This malty, chocolatey, strong-yet-oddly-herbaceous cocktail from Cannibale may arouse your inner demons — or induce you into an alternate reality after consuming a few.
1 oz (30 mL) Evan Williams Black bourbon
1 oz (30 mL) Pimm’s No. 1 0.75 oz (22 mL) stout syrup (see recipe)
0.25 oz (7 mL) Cynar 2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters Bourbon cherry on a skewer
1. Combine ingredients in mixing glass and stir with ice until well chilled.
2. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with skewered bourbon cherry.
Stout syrup
4.25 cups (1 L) water
18 oz (500 g) brown sugar
2 oz (60 g) chocolate malt (available at a homebrew store) 2 oz (60 g) roasted barley (available at a homebrew store)
1 oz (30 g) coffee
1. Heat water and sugar together until hot but not simmering (about 170 F or 75 C), then add malt, barley and ground coffee and stir.
2. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 20 minutes, then filter. Let cool and store in fridge.
Recipes by Evan Cooper, Cannibale