Couple of very strong drinks (Shazam, Black Adam)

SHAZAM!

So… who/what is S.H.A.Z.A.M. The Cocktail?

Wisdom of Solomon: lime juice (because sour taste “awakes”, makes you “sharp”)

Strenght of Hercules: vodka (pure ethanol strenght)

Stamina of Atlas: tequila (because slamming tequila is usually associated with “stamina”, eg. desperately trying to stay awake in the party, too drunk, when you really should be home sleeping)

Power of Zeus: absinth (that’s The Power!)

Courage of Achilles: mezcal (it usually takes some persuasion to make person taste mezcal after they have sniffed it)

Speed of Mercury: simple syrup (because our taste buds pick up sweet taste first, eg. in the “punch line” of Joker)

…and some cranberry juice to represent Billy Batson, one person in whom all these powers manifest themself.

So, the actual recipe…

2 parts vodka

2 parts tequila (blanco or reposado)

2 parts absinth (see below)

2 parts mezcal (San Cosme recommended, as usual)

3 parts lime juice

4 parts simple syrup

dash of cranberry juice

Shake with ice and strain into highball glass with lots of ice in it.

About cranberry juice… as usual, please do not use pre-mixed juice drinks, but high quality concentrate diluted with water 1:1 ratio instead of recommended 3:1 or 4:1.

About absinth… as with all of my cocktail recipes, please use absinth that is less spicy and more heavy with anise. These absinths tend to be less green, usually wholly transparent in colour.

Observant readers notice that this drink is basically a Long Island Iced Tea variant. Shazam is a bundle of different powers, as L.I.I. Tea is a bundle of different alcohols thrown together in highball glass… infamous “Tea” is associated with very strong alcohol content (with good reason), and Shazam is thought to be very strong… so that’s my philosophy behind Shazam the Cocktail.

If you like the basic idea of this drink but you find it too strong either in taste or alcohol content, please check out Galactus. It has many similarities, but is a bit more “friendly” to drink, while still maintaining the feel of Raw Cosmic Power. Many of my Test Subjects praise that concoction.

 

BLACK ADAM

2 parts vodka

2 parts mezcal (once again, San Cosme recommended)

1,5 parts Midori

1 part Gammel Dansk

4 parts cranberry juice

1,5 parts lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. If you want some decoration, garnish the drink as you would garnish Cosmopolitan…

…because Black Adam The Cocktail is very weird Cosmopolitan variant, as Shazam is L.I.I. Tea variant.

While designing Black Adam I experimented with same ingredients I used in Shazam, because both draw strenght from the same source (kind of). As Black Adam is evil adversary (or “antihero” at least), I was prepared to add some bitter elements…

…and this published recipe is the best experiment result. The taste makes weird “curve” from your lips through your palate, kind of avoiding your tongue before ending up in your throat: it stays there for a moment… and after a sip, when you do that little lick at your lower lip, as we all unconciously do, you taste weird “salty” taste.

Shazam draws power from Solomon-Hercules-Atlas-Zeus-Achilles-Mercury-combo, Black Adam from Shu-Horus-Amon-Zehuti-Aton-Mehen… both drinks partly share same ingredients and are both “storm of tastes”: cocktail “twins”, good and evil. I’m pretty content with them, especially Black Adam.

 

Something less strong next time :D, see you then.