I bought Gotham City Cocktails because we have a bottle of locally made bourbon that we have been sampling called Blue Note. I say "sampling" in that we didn't drink any (we're not hard-liquor drinkers very much) until we binged Deadwood. In the course of which, we made a drinking game of sipping a shot of bourbon every time somebody said c---sucker.
We got very drunk.
But it turns out we liked Blue Note more than any bourbon we'd ever had. (Note: We haven't had many.) Anyway, I saw Gotham City Cocktails coming up for release, and thought I'd buy it and use it to make bourbon-based drinks and use up that bottle of Blue Note.
But my wife took the bit in her teeth, and decided we'd try them all. Every single drink.
I married well.
That involved going to the biggest liquor store in the area and buying many liquors, liquers and mixers. We did just that, and spent $300 in the process. And still didn't get all the mixers we needed from the book. (We had made a list. We didn't finish it.)
But we got enough to start. And tonight we tried drink No. 1: "The Burnsider." It involves ginger beer, cointreau, lemon juice and orange peel. I had no idea what "cointreau" was, and had to Google it. Doesn't matter, though, does it? All that matters is if it tastes good.
And boy howdy, does it. This snappy, spicy drink is awesome. I don't think I could have more than two at a sitting, and I probably wouldn't taste the second one if I did. Great drink, tho. I recommend it. At least one on a given night, anyway.
I'll continue to post as we make it through the book. I hope some of you take the journey with us.
Replies
I'll continue to post as we make it through the book.
Oh, good. I was going to request that you do just that.
I hope some of you take the journey with us.
I didn't see Gotham City Cocktails at my LCS, but I'll inquire about it if it's not on the shelf.
I didn't see Gotham City Cocktails at my LCS, but I'll inquire about it if it's not on the shelf.
I wasn't really expecting everyone to run out and get the book. (Although it's a fun book.) I figured most people would concoct the drinks at home if they had the ingredients, or order one at a full bar somewhere. But yes, buying the book would probably be easier. I ordered it through Amazon.
Anyway, here's the first entry:
COCKTAIL NO. 1
"Inspired by the trendy neighborhood and its influential, brilliant resident Barbara Gordon"
THE BURNSIDER
From the book: "Young, worldly, and tech-savvy, the new residents of Gotham City's exploding Burnside neighborhood are ultrahip. The best local bars and restaurants have taken note of this influx and created a number of drinks for a cohort who want to hang out with friends but still get back to work later. The most famous of these smart concoctions is called, appropriately enough, the Burnsider — low in alcohol but high in glam and flavor. It's the signature cocktail for a neighborhood that includes newsworthy movers and shakers like Barbara Gordon."
Recipe
5 ounces of ginger beer
½ ounces Cointreau
¼ ounce fresh lemon juice
Lemon peel, for garnish
Review: We both loved it. The ginger beer drops it somewhere between tangy and spicy. The cointreau adds sweetness, but not too much. It's not the sort of thing you slam down. I'd think it's probably an upscale, cocktail-party sort of drink.
We tried it a second time with lime juice instead of lemon juice, and it was slightly drier and a tad less sweet. I liked that version just as much.
I wasn't really expecting everyone to run out and get the book.
I had heard about Gotham City Cocktails and had considered buying it, anyway. I doubt I will, though, for two reasons: 1) I don't drink mixed drionks very often, and 2) I already own The Algonquin Bar and Cocktail Book, which has always been enough for me. The reason I don't generally drink cocktails is because I hate mixing them (although I don't mind drinking them if someone makes one for me). I don't usually order them because they're too expensive (I think). I generally drink a good, single-malt Scotch I can drink straight.
Sounds like a pretty cool book. I'm usully up for a drink, but I don't like ginger beer. I've tried 2 or 3 different drinks with ginger beer, and I didn't like any of them. Moscow Mule, Dark & Stormy, and I think another one.
COCKTAIL NO. 2
"Inspired by forever foes Batman and The Joker"
GOOD VS. EVIL
Recipe
4 ounces ginger beer
1 ounce dark rum
½ ounce Benedictine (optional)
Lime wheel, for garnish
We tried this one and it was so-so. It had a bit of a medicine-y taste at first, but as the ice melted, the ginger beer became more pronounced and the medicine taste went away. Quite enjoyed it there at the end. But I never craved a second one. Maybe if I had squeezed the lime into it!
The ginger beer probably knocks this one out of contention for Travis. We're not trying to do that, Trav! Honest! It's just that the ginger beer is now opened, and we're trying to use it up. The same thing will happen when we get to a champagne mix -- we got a bottle of cheap sparkling wine as a mixer, and once it's open, we'll run through all the drinks that require champagne we can before it goes flat.
I'm with Travis when it comes to ginger beer, but when you get to a mix that sounds good to me, I may join you. In the meantime, I hope you don't mind a few diversions from your "play by play" with a bit of "color commentary" of my own.
Some time ago, I decided to supplement my collection of "novelty cookbooks" [Star Trek, Gilligan's Island, Elvis Presley ("Are You Hungry Tonight?"), etc.] with The Dark Shadows Cookbook, which includes recipes for such delectable dishes as...
...including a chapter titled "Barabas' Bloody Mary and Other Beastly Beverages," which makes it germain to this conversation. Although I did find several copies online, I couldn't find any for less than a few hundred dollars, so I gave it a pass. Here's what Danny Horn had to say about it on his "Dark Shadows Every Day" blog:
"Obviously, the chapter on Barnabas’ Bloody Mary and Other Beastly Beverages is the most true-to-life, because as far as we know, nobody at Collinwood ever eats anything, but they sure do know how to drink.
"The chapter includes Beth’s Lime Vodka Highball — 'pour lime-flavored vodka into a highball glass, add ice cubes and soda, and stir.' — as well as Julia’s Whiskey Sour, Quentin’s Old Fashioned, Angelique’s Mad Manhattan, Elizabeth’s Dry Martini and Prof. Stokes’ Grasshopper. They don’t tell us about David’s beverage of choice, but somebody must be drinking all that sherry they have lying around.
"This brings up a question about the target audience for this particular piece of merchandise. The back cover said that any Dark Shadows fan, of any age, can prepare these recipes, so presumably if we give the middle schoolers a jigger of brandy and some creme de menthe, they could whip up a Magda’s Stinger."
COCKTAIL NO. 3
“Old Gotham is Gotham City’s oldest cocktail, the mixed drink that spawned all others”
OLD GOTHAM
"The manufacture of the Old Gotham is unique among cocktails. It begins with a sugar moistened with bitters and a splash of water. Be sure to completely muddle the sugar and smear it around the bottom of the glass until it begins to dissolve."
Recipe
1 sugar cube
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 teaspoon water
2 ounces rum
Candied orange peel, for garnish
Lemon twist, for garnish
Review
This is a pretty old-fashioned cocktail, in that’s it’s almost all booze. You can imagine the movers and shakers of pre-Batman Gotham City drinking it in their art deco boardrooms, hotel lobbies and corner offices. It’s pretty strong, so it needs the ice. And you better like rum, because that’s the main flavor!
The candied orange peel when dropped in the drink gives it a bit of sweetness, but that doesn’t last long.
COCKTAIL NO. 4
“A classic and refined drink inspired by Gotham City’s political hopefuls.”
GOTHAM CITY
“While the origins of this cocktail are disputed, it is most often attributed to a party thrown in Gotham City for Mayor Thorndike while he was on the mayoral campaign trail. It was such a smash hit that the recipe was widely distributed after the party, with Gothamites clamoring to taste the signature drink of the promising contender. It is now considered a classic and a souce of great civic pride. The cocktail is sure to be a favorite of those who like both whiskey sours and Manhattans.”
Recipe
2 ounces rye whiskey
½ ounce sweet vermouth
¼ ounce limoncello
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 lemon twist
Review
This one is pretty strong, too — the recipe doesn’t call for ice, but we added some to dilute the burn. (As noted, we are not regular whiskey drinkers.) I don’t know that I’ve ever ordered anything with rye in it before, but I didn’t think it was all that different from other whiskeys I’ve had.
The vermouth made it sweeter than the Old Gotham, which I prefer. But it’s still pretty much just straight booze.
So as not to further
this discussion, I have posted "The Beatles & Alcoholic Beverages" to a thread of its own.
COCKTAIL NO. 5
“A classic inspired by the Wayne summer soirees”
LUCKY PENNY
Recipe
2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1 (or substitute 1 part gin, 1 part red vermouth, and ½ part curacao)
4 ounces ginger beer
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
Fresh mint, for garnish
Review
My wife decreed this “refreshing.” Sadly for some, ginger beer is an ingredient. But happily for them, I couldn’t taste it. It tasted mainly of lemon and mint, and it reminded us of a mojito.
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