Straight outta Arkham (Hugo Strange, Zsasz)

Continuing our series of “Grim and Bleak January”… from the darkest dephts of the sickest minds in Arkham Asylum…

Batman’s Friends and Foes PDF is updated to include these two recipes, please check it out in Recipes and downloads.

 

ZSASZ

5 parts Creme de Cassis

4 OR 5 parts Campari (see below)

2 to 3 parts gin

5 parts coffee (cold)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Maybe a cherry for garnish?

For coffee please use same kind of brew as in Black Mamba. Please do not use espresso or something similar, their taste dominates too much.

Victor Zsasz sure is “Out There”… but he has his (kinda) clear and “sane” moments: amount of Campari in this drink tilts the taste surprisingly much, good for representing psychopath going from insane to… well, to even more insane, “Over the Edge”.

4 parts Campari results in “ponderous cocktail”, something you automatically enjoy pretty slow. “Difficult”, yet interesting taste.

5 parts Campari: who would’ve guessed that adding Campari makes the drink easier to drink? Anyway, 5 parts gives you the cocktail more suitable as a apertif…

…which is surprising, since this drink contains so much sweet elements; something usually considered a big no-no in apertif. It seems that acrid cold coffee and Creme de Cassis “cancel” each other out, creating a interesting base for Campari and gin to blend in.

Interesting mix, indeed. I think it’s pretty decent representation of Zsasz’s psychopathic mind, full of inhumane reasoning, easily nudged from threatening silence to killing spree with tiny adjustment in ingredients.

 

It looks like a lemon peel, but it is orange. Too daring lightning, I guess.

HUGO STRANGE

2 parts tequila blanco

1 part Campari

4 parts cranberry juice

Shake with ice and strain into a highball glass with lots of ice in it. Garnish with orange peel.

This is the drink that Professor Strange sips while examining the results of the latest mutant torture experiment, I think it has a “intellectual and emotionally cold” feel.

I would enjoy this highball in the summer, but it’s okay in the middle of cold winter also.

If you find Campari more distraction than a essential part of the drink, please try the next recipe instead… you’ve probably heard of it before; old recipe I stumbled upon years ago. I enjoy Grenade a lot, I decided to “zest it up a bit” with Campari and adjust the tequila volume.

GRENADE

1 part tequila blanco

3 parts cranberry juice

Shake with ice and garnish with orange peel, as above.

 

Freezing January continues here in Finland, now with a lots of snow. I’ll embrace that feeling and continue with grim and bleak characters… Mr. Freeze is one of my most praised recipes: basically it’s “a freezing highball” but despite of its name it is a summertime refreshment. Next time I’ll bring you something along those same guidelines: “freezing” in theory, but essentially “summery”… something to shake The January Blues…