Last time I shared some of my creations I started designing some character in mind but ended up depicting someone else. This time I’ll present couple of drinks that started and ended up exactly as characters I intended…well, almost 🙂
KINGPIN
3 parts Advocaat
2 parts creme de cassis
3 parts vodka
(some prefer a dash of cognac)
Shake vigorously with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass with some ice in it.
Kingpin – what does the name bring into our minds? Criminal mastermind with a huge glass of scotch in his even huger hand – quite okay, but I’m in the mood for breaking some stereotypes (hence I discarded the idea of white drink in the get-go)… so, let’s skip the whisky. Maybe he sips something based in cognac/brandy?
Mr. Fisk looks pretty cool most of the time, but when he blows up he gets REALLY angry… so maybe it’s something sharp, vodka or gin? Tequila seemed like a wrong choice for the character from the start.
Hmm… cool, but capable of horrendous violence at any given moment… let’s hide that vodka sting in something smooth – Advocaat does it, but we need something more to make things interesting.
Creme de cassis? It would turn the overall colour into purple (or at least purple-ish), the colour of Wilson’s trousers 🙂 Unfortunately the final colour was nothing I planned, more like latte… but it’s okay, I think: it’s still stylish and serene, something that would look cool in Kingpin’s enormous clamp.
Then it’s just the matter of finding out the right ratios. I prefer those above, feel free to adjust. Some Test Subjects preferred a dash of cognac in their drink… I don’t, instead I designed another Kingpin cocktail based wholly on cognac.
Before we’ll check out that creation… Big Barda The Cocktail might look almost like Kingpin’s namesake when you just read the ingredients, but they are quite different.
KINGPIN (WILSON FISK)
4 parts cognac
3 parts peach liqueur
1 part Grand Marnier
two drops (not dashes) of Angostura orange bitters (see below)
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
So, we have smooth Kingpin cocktail ready… somehow I felt I betrayed Kingpin, maybe his cocktail should be based in some booze of brown colour – I still refuse to go the easy way and grab the whisky bottle… cognac it is!
So, where to go from here? One thing to liven up a glass of cognac is citrus and sugar but Sidecar is already there, so something else… actually, let’s try to design this cocktail without any citrus, in the form of liqueur or juice.
As noted, Wilson is always ready to bash some skulls if need arises… but he also knows how to enjoy the life of criminal… well, kingpin. So, let’s do some experiments with fruit liqueurs…
Peach seems to work, but there’s still some unwanted clash between the two elements… for cases like that we have a remedy I have used few times before: small amount of Grand Marnier (okay, there goes my principle of not using citrus liqueur). I don’t know why, but it helps to knit together aromas.
So, now we have a ready drink… or do we? G-Marnier does its job binding cognac and peach together, but something is missing from the result: it tastes too nice for Kingpin’s cocktail…
Okay, I promised myself not resorting to lime juice or Triple Sec or Cointreau or any of that stuff (already made a concession with G-Marnier)… well, I did, but they didn’t work, just “choked” the drink… the answer is couple of drops Angostura orange bitters. Normal dashes are too much, please be careful and use only two drops (three for bigger glass).
So, there we have two versions of Kingpin. And if you’re looking for Daredevil The Cocktail, it’s here.
Autumn is here (at least here in Finland) and so are rowanberries… next time we’ll utilize good ol’ rowanberry vodka 🙂
Superhero Cocktails 