Is reading superhero comics a childish thing to do? As a nerd in my late 40’s I’d say “probably yes”… and that’s the beauty of them. It doesn’t matter if it’s cosmic struggle between Green and Yellow Lantern Corps or extremely dark Punisher MAX story; Fantastic Four saving the world from Galactus once again or chain-smoking John Constantine getting drunk and laid while escaping the latest demon he’s managed to get pissed off… it’s childish, and it’s the best way to relax.

Today’s cocktail superheroes are not just childish, they are clearly targeted just for child readers. Alcoholic versions are available, since this is a cocktail blog… but mocktail versions for both Bamse and Super Goof are added to the mocktail compilation, please check it out in Recipes and downloads.

Without further delay, onto the today’s first drink…

 

SUPER GOOF

1 part reposado/gold tequila or Skittles tequila

2 parts Bols Pome granate

4 parts apple juice

(dash of lemon juice)

Shake with ice and strain into a highball glass with some ice in it. Add a straw, serve with peanuts.

Reposado/gold tequila works fine, but it’s better with Skittles tequila.

My guideline for Super Goof The Cocktail: its taste must make you crave for peanuts (magical or regular) ;P

Well, I think I found a combo that works… Bols Pome granate has simple, infantile and sweet taste: pretty boring, actually, but if you combine it with a kick of tequila it gets interesting (tequila blanco is too sharp for this purpose). Apple juice is pretty neutral way to “stretch” the drink to a highball; please don’t introduce too much lemon juice (if any), since you’re supposed to start craving for peanuts… trust me, you will 😀

 

SUPER GOOF, MOCKTAIL VERSION

5 parts apple juice

1 part red grenadine/pomegranate syrup, 2 parts if you have a sweet tooth

dash or two of lemon juice (depends on the amount of grenadine/syrup)

Shake with ice, as above. This is much sweeter than alcoholic version, so please make sure you’ve bought another bag of peanuts.

 

Bamse, The Strongest Bear in The World… actually I’m not sure how widely this comic book character is known around the world. I read them as a small child, now it seems the character has experienced a renaissance, animated movie and all, so I guess the Nordic readers are not the only ones who recognize this character…

What is he holding? “Dunder Honung” translates to “Thunder Honey”. Normally Bamse wanders around as a regular bear/teddybear, no special powers (of course he’s wise and just all the time). When the need arises, he gulps down the jar of Thunder Honey and gets the enormous strenght: naturally the strenght is not used to beat up the bad guys, but to fix the damage done and make them understand their evil ways. Luckily, baddies always seem to repent in the end and became buddies with Bamse 😀

So, honey it is!

 

BAMSE, THE STRONGEST BEAR IN THE WORLD

10 parts lager

up to 1 part lemon juice

1 (or more) part honey

up to 1 part Strega

(1 or more parts aquavit)

Build into a suitable tankard, you’ll need to do some stirring when adding honey. I recommed adding ice, even if you normally loathe them in beer cocktails.

Strega is the element which turns this shebang into The Thunder Honey. Italian liqueur with intensely “violent” taste, fittingly named: “strega” is Italian for “witch”. Clearly not meant to be consumed on its own (except maybe with a lot of ice), but adding a small amount of Strega invigorates even the dullest drink; which Bamse would be, without it.

Adding aquavit is optional… but if you yearn for a little more kick, go for it. And since Bamse is created in Sweden, I think its appropriate to add some anyway. By the way, you can use aquavit for Thor (Mjolnir) also.

 

BAMSE, lower alcohol content version

Simply replace regular lager with alcohol-free version. The drink will still have some “voltage” because of Strega, but considerably less. Basically tastes the same. Good choice if you’re a designated driver and have a quota for one low-alcohol drink which you want to enjoy slowly.

 

BAMSE, mocktail version

4 parts apple juice

1 part honey

1 part lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a small glass with quite a lot of ice in it. Adding a straw is good idea since honey tends to trickle down to the bottom, the drink might need occasional stirring. I guess the right colour for the straw is blue, matches Bamse’s dungarees.

Please keep those glasses small. No Strega on this one, but “The Thunder” comes from honey and lemon: delightful in small amounts, gets outright abhorrent if the serving is too large. No large tankards with this one.

 

BAMSE, mocktail version with alcohol-free beer

10 parts alcohol-free lager

up to 1 part lemon juice

1 part (or more) honey

Build into a suitable tankard, you’ll need to do some stirring when adding honey. Adding ice is optional.

So, this is the dull version… Bamse’s “Honey” without “The Thunder”.  It adds some character to plain (alcohol-free) lager, so it’s there if you wanna check it out.

 

Both Super Goof and Bamse get their powers when they eat something… so what about good ol’ spinach-gulping Popeye? I’ve been thinking about that sailor earlier, but scrapped the idea, decided to focus on “the real superheroes”… but after today’s cocktails and mocktails I’m forced to publish Popeye The Cocktail also, someday.

Anyway, he has to wait for his namesake drink; it’s going to be published in the future, but next time we’ll check out couple of superheroines. We’ve seen them before, but they deserve another cocktail bearing their name… ;P

 

Two summer drinks coming up. Both of them revolve around the mixture of Amaretto and banana liqueur, so no need to buy myriad of different ingredients to try these.

Both of todays characters are mean: not necessarily baddies, they are just not to be horsed around with.

About the banana liqueur in these drinks… The preferred colour is yellow. Giganta’s attire is either yellow-black or leopard pattern; Hellcat’s tights are yellow-black. If you really want to represent character’s colour theme in their drinks down to the last detail, use black straws etc.

 

Bumblebee decoration really had nothing to do with Giganta, I just added it on a whim.

GIGANTA

1 part yellow banana liqueur

1 part Amaretto

1 part white rum

3 parts pineapple juice

dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into the big highball glass with lot of ice in it. Nice (but lethal) summer refreshment, garnish accordingly.

Giganta sure is mean… and she could swat you like a bug in an instant. Her namesake drink doesn’t taste “mean”, far from it, but the size of the serving (which, of course, has to be huge) and the amount of “hidden alcohol” somewhere in there sure is a mean thing to do: this highball packs a punch, but you’ll probably concentrate on Amaretto+banana-taste… suddenly you’ll get slapped by The Might of Giganta.

 

HELLCAT

Prepare a frappe: cool suitable thick small glasses in the freezer beforhand. Fill them with crushed/shaven ice, then quickly prepare the drink.

1 part yellow banana liqueur

1 part Amaretto

dash of Tabasco sauce

Shake vigorously with ice and strain into the ice-filled glasses. Serve with a straw.

Unlike Giganta, Hellcat isn’t one of the baddies… but as her name suggests, she is the embodiment of the word “mean”. Sweet combo of almond and banana, as in Giganta, but enhanced with a Tabasco kick.

Tabasco isn’t just a cheap trick to insert “The Essence of Hellcat” to this drink. The combination of these two liqueurs is, of course, intolerably sweet. In Giganta the sweetness is cut down with pineapple, rum and Angostura bitters. In frappes the melting ice of course does dilute the sweetness, but Tabasco really “gives a spine” to the whole shebang.

 

“Reading comics is childish”, some might say. “Reading superhero comics is really childish”, they might add. Well, next time we are going to dive even deeper, getting total infants 🙂

 

I try to design my cocktails without additional flavour syrups (simple syrup doesn’t count), but I’ve given a small concessions considering that, eg. sala syrup in Deadpool and orgeat syrup in Killer Frost.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing culpable in using syrups… I just find the research of mixing different alcohols interesting, trying to find tasty combos. Flavour syrups make it easier, I totally admit that… and that’s the point: too easy. There’s gotta be some challenge.

Okay, now I’ve given an approving nod for flavour syrups in my cocktails, but I’ve tried to keep up “my principle” about not using food colouring: there’s a whole lotta challenge trying to create both “The Feel” and the possible colour theme of the character using only different alcohols and mixers… and challenge is what I’m after.

(My rant about “intellectually lazy” superhero cocktails which only strive for the colour theme)

Okay, I’m giving a small concession in this colour matter also… black. Not very, very dark brown, but pure black. I’ve used it in both of today’s cocktails, but the food colouring is not mandatory: drinks will, of course, taste exactly the same… they just look a bit better.

 

DOMINO

3 parts whisky

1 to 2 parts DOM Benedictine

3 parts extra dry vermouth

dash of Peychaud’s Bitters

(drop of black food colouring)

Rim small stemmed glass with powdered sugar. Shake ingredients with ice and strain into the glass.

How does “luck” taste like? I asked for a challenge, and that sure is one. I could’ve gone straight for immensely sweet (as in “sweet victory through sheer luck”), but that seemed like a cheap trick, too easy for a solution.

So, I decided to try to capture both the good luck of Domino and misfortune of her adversaries in the same drink… whisky and DOM, that’s sweet and it has a feel of “embraced by Lady Luck”… on the other hand there’s dry frustration of constantly fumbling around when fighting Domino, in the form of vermouth; the drink needed something little more, something to “tie it up”, and Peychaud’s was the answer.

You don’t have to use black colouring: the cocktail’s natural colour is golden brown, beautiful per se… but it sure has more striking appearance when it’s black.

 

I continue about syrups and colours, if you’re eager to check out my second version of Wolverine please feel free to skip the following…

My reluctance with using flavoured syrups has been somewhat hypocritical, I know. I’ve extracted all sorts of stuff in booze to give it a different nuances: licorice, jelly beans, ginger, Skittles, salmiac… but I feel it’s different thing to do experiments with different substances than just picking up a suitable flavoured syrup from the shelf.

Sometimes you end up with a Standard Houseguest in your booze cabinet (for example licorice vodka is there to stay in my collection), sometimes you accidentally give birth to an abomination, some sludge that is an embodiment of “wasting good booze” (don’t try extracting Menthos in alcohol, unless you really, really love the taste of toothpaste mixed with cooking oil).

“What about the grenadine? You’re using that?” That’s right, I use red and blue (blue in mocktails, Blue Curacao in cocktails). In addition to sweetness and colour they also have some degree of taste… so they’re flavoured syrups.

Guilty as charged, but basic grenadines are such a standard traditional cocktail materials I don’t think them as flavoured syrups… not to the same degree as those that taste like passion fruit, Mojito Mint, Peach Tea, popcorn (please), Salted Caramel, tangerine… I guess they share some flavouring agents with some of the liqueurs I use, but I still prefer them over syrups any given day.

The syrups are not despicable; they are just too easy for me. No challenge there.

Enough with this rant, onto the next cocktail…

 

WOLVERINE (LOGAN)

Yellow layer, top:

1 part gin

2 parts orange juice

Black layer, bottom:

3 parts Kahlúa

1 part Gammel Dansk

(black food colouring)

Add some ice into a suitable glass. Then shake layers separately with ice and layer them into the glass: black first, then yellow to the top.

I was content with my first version of Wolverine, but it seemed Test Subjects wanted something more… mean. So here it is.

Yellow layer is “surly Screwdriver”, gin in the place of vodka does it. After wading through the “impolite yellow” you’ll get little relief in the form of sweet Kahlúa… but even it has a brusque sidenote, hint of Gammel Dansk.

And of course the colour theme is Old School Wolverine. Without food colouring the bottom layer is very, very dark brown, black colouring is not necessary to deliver the message… But the drink has more striking appearance with distinct yellow-black-contrast.

 

It’ll be June when I publish my next post… so summer drinks it is. One highball and one frappe, both female characters… and they are mean! ;P

 

Whole lotta Captains around here today… Two strong cocktails coming up. The other one is for elegant sipping; the other one is for more vulgar occasions, suitable for upcoming summer’s parties that tend to get out of control.

“JLA” and “Avengers Assemble!” cocktail compilations are updated, please feel free to check them out in Recipes and downloads.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

2 parts De Kyuper Sour Rhubarb

1 part vodka

dash of lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

[EDIT: please check out Carol Danvers version of this drink here.]

Antics considering the use of name “Captain Marvel” in comics are grotesque legal stunts, but let’s not delve deeper into that: this blog is about cocktails inspired by comic book superheroes, not about legal travesty between two publishers.

(The other Captain Marvel can be found in this post)

I had some problems with creating a drink for Marvel’s Captain Marvel… Mar-vell has experienced so many deaths and resurresctions through the years, I don’t know which version I should base her/his cocktail on. The colour? Should it be mostly blue, less red, or vice versa? Or completely white? Which version should the taste represent?

This blog is about superheroes in comic books, not just the ones in movies, that’s why I automatically didn’t go for Carol Danvers.

Instead of entangling myself with these dilemmas I decided to create a cocktail that fits the descriptions “powerful comic book character” and “something to be taken seriously”.

I humbly accept the criticism of Captain Marvel fans for creating “something too general” for their idol… but at least give this drink a try, because it’s delicious!

Ater discovering De Kyuper’s Sour Rhubarb I’ve had trouble of restraining myself for not building every single cocktail design around it. I know this is a temporary phase, I will get over this and move on… but I will be introducing quite a few recipes utilizing this delightfully zesty liqueur in the future: there is no point of publishing all of them at once, you’ll get bored.

You probably noticed this isn’t my first Sour Rhubarb cocktail, please check out Raven.

And now onto the second cocktail of the day…

CAPTAIN ATOM

3 parts white rum

2 parts peach liqueur

1 part Luxardo Maraschino

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass with some crushed ice in it. Garnish with bright red cherry, and if you feel like it, all sorts of “atomic” stuff (maybe something like in Dr. Manhattan).

This is the drink for summer parties’ late, late night phase: when you should be sleeping, but you go on an’ on an’ on in drunken rampage… Maybe you started with Fantastic Four, a family of drinks for summer parties: starting with apertifs, through sweet digestives and highballs… then you were gullible enough to try Hulk The Drinking Game… and then you noticed the recipe of Black Widow in the same post, and got incited to try another drinking game I suggested: “which one is the most badass assassin, Black Widow or Deadshot?”…

…And when all hope is lost… enter Captain Atom.

Don’t try this cocktail when you sober, it’s not designed for that! You should have at least few drinks before, should’ve familiarized yourself with alcohol buzz once again… Then this drink hits the spot! And there’s a trap: crushed ice cools down the drink better than cubes, but it also melts more quickly… at some point you’ll notice that the taste is getting little watered down, and you rush to finish the drink… resulting in even more serious intoxication, at accelerated speed.

Why did I design Captain Atom The Cocktail like this? Well… the fellow is a living nuclear reactor, so his namesake beverage can’t be moderate highball! In the Kingdom Come story Parasite ripped him open, and the resulting blast wiped out whole Kansas… so high alcohol content is compulsory.

And if we’re getting highly thematic… the hangover associated with drinking too many of these depicts the the radioactive fallout of that particular Kansas nuclear disaster ;P

That’s it. This time: Captains. Next time: X-men.

Oh, Batman’s enemies… source of endless inspiration and one of the reasons why I started this blog. To be honest: I’m not a big Batman fan, character is not that interesting… but his enemies, titillating and intriguing in their imaginative insanity is what brings me back to those particular comics time after time.

Of my themed cocktail compilations, “Batman: his few friends and many foes” is the largest, and now its going to grow with today’s recipes. Please feel free to check it out in Recipes and downloads.

Cocktails of the day…

 

TALIA AL GHUL

1 part gin

1 part licorice vodka

2 parts Noilly Prat

2 parts Heering

2 parts Maraschino Luxardo

(1 part simple syrup)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add one small ice cube.

How to produce licorice vodka? Check out Harley Quinn.

Talia is an interesting character: both the enemy of Batman, but also his lover. I decided that her namesake drink should be sweet (“lover”) but it should also contain “an underlying sense of danger” because she is the daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul, after all…

An inspiration for this cocktail came to me when I was testing the recipes from Ye Olde Finnish Cocktail Book…

 

“Cocktail Kirja” (“Cocktail Book”) is the first cocktail book ever written in Finnish, published after the end of Prohibition 1932 (yes, Finland experienced that tragic period also). It’s mainly a rip off from Craddock’s legendary “Savoy Cocktail Book”, but it also has some recipes of its own.

One cocktail got my attention the second it touched my lips… “well, this isn’t that great, but it has potential. I could use this as a basis for something better… it has sweetness, but also something else; great for Talia The Cocktail, her drink has been postponed way too long…”

Here is the original recipe used as an inspiration, exactly as it was written in “Cocktail Kirja”…

TYTTÖLASTEN COCKTAIL (MOLLS’ / DAMES’ / TOOTSIES’ COCKTAIL)

1 part Boord’s gin

1 part French vermouth (read: half sweet vermouth)

1 part cherry brandy liqueur

1 dash simple syrup

1 dash Maraschino liqueur

As you can see, Talia The Cocktail ended up pretty far from this one… but I feel that my creation is based on this, so I decided to bring this to your attention also.

And Test Subject S.: thank you for Cocktail Kirja and acting as a Guinea pig for Talia al Ghul 😀

 

KILLER MOTH

Orange part:

1 part vodka

1 part carrot juice

1 part pineapple juice

Green part:

3 parts Creme de Menthe

2 parts lemon juice

1 part kirschwasser (or moonshine, see below ;P)

Shake parts separately with ice and layer into a suitable glass with some ice in it; green bottom, orange top. Add a straw, and it’s essential that the straw is purple (to honour Killer Moth’s fashion sense regarding his tights) 😀

Last time I published couple of drinks for henchmen: sad excuses for a higher primate, nothing goes well with them… that inspired me to create a drink for The Saddest Batman Villain Ever, Killer Moth.

The straw is purple for decorative purposes, but it serves a function: alternate drinking orange and green parts. Orange is for those long boring days (and weeks) during which K-Moth spends working on his criminal plans (a dull, bland taste)… and the green is when those plans are executed, and even if they work out, they can be called partial failures (well, the taste is “off”).

About moonshine… superherococktails.com does not endorse any illegal activities, including “distillin’ your own”… but it looks like everyone knows a friend who knows a friend who has The Equipment ;P

Moonshine taste is great for representing “small time crook”-feel of Killer Moth. If you don’t know that “friend of the friend”, please use kirschwasser instead: no matter how legally manufactured, it has a certain taste of home distilled product… oh, wait… I don’t know what good ol’ rotgut would taste like: I don’t know any friends who have friends and I’ve never touched the stuff ;P

 

Next time: delicious and strong drinks, suitable for Summer’s First Serious Intoxication. I might be little early, it’s May after all… but it’s good to be prepared.

 

May Day / International Worker’s Day is approaching, so let’s make a theme about oppressed individiuals of the superhero comic world.

Let’s face it: life of a henchman isn’t easy. Your master treats you badly, and when it’s time for The Big Showdown the good guys knock you out just like that; then you wake up in jail. The very least we can do for these poor souls is to dedicate couple of cocktails for them.

On the other hand… the henchmen tend to be pretty dense and dim, not necessarily the greatest cocktail connoisseurs around. And if they ever should design a cocktail… well, I suppose it wouldn’t get official IBA status any time soon.

Summa summarum, my guidelines for these henchmen cocktails: simple to make (because henchmen can’t handle too complicated tasks), and their taste should be “little off”… not necessarily outright repulsive, but somehow failed and lame… as are their pitiful lives 😐

 

MOLOID

1 part Coca-Cola

1 part extra dry vermouth

Build into an ugly glass, add some ice.

I feel quilty when mocking Moloids… after all, they were created to serve as mindless cannon fodder / beasts of burden! Heavy labour day after day, always underground, no sunshine, no emotions or any other brain activity whatsoever… the quarreling combination of Coke and vermouth is what living under the tyrannical iron boot of Mole Man must taste like.

Joking aside… this drink is not unpalatable: the taste is weird, but I’m pretty someone honestly enjoys this refreshment with a brisk aroma. I found some acceptable elements in this combo, so I have a courage to publish it.

 

Okay, some of you comic book enthusiasts out there point out that there are thinking Moloids out there, genetic deviates or what have you: Mik, Korr, Tong, Val-Or… so this is the cocktail for them…

THINKING MOLOID, eg. VAL-OR

2 parts Coca-Cola

3 parts extra dry vermouth

1 part licorice vodka or Triple Sec

Build into an ugly glass, as above.

If you find basic version too bland spice it up with some licorice vodka or Triple sec: the additional jolt represents the spark of intelligence these unusual Moloids host inside their cranium.

New to this blog? Don’t know how to make licorice vodka? Check out Harley Quinn… and speaking about HQ…

 

Serving Quinntet The Cocktail in partly broken glass is thematically nice idea, represents Harley’s violent tantrums well… but it goes without saying that this has its dangers, edges of broken glass and lips don’t go well together. Use your discretion.

QUINNTET

2 parts licorice vodka

2 to 3 parts cranberry juice

Shake with ice and strain into a suitable glass with some ice in it. Partly broken glass is great, but it has its inherent dangers: maybe just some ugly/weird container.

And as always… for cranberry juice please use high quality concentrate, diluted with water 1:1 ratio instead of recommendation (usually 1:3 or 1:4).

Quinntets (in Kesel-Dodson H.Q. production) were not just some faceless mooks: they had real thoughts and emotions (well, maybe Buster didn’t ;P ), they were actually important characters in the story… maybe that’s why I felt so bad when Harley mistreated them, according to her insane whims. Their namesake cocktail deserves a little bit more delving into than just throwing random ingredients into the shaker…

Harley Quinn is one of my best creations ever, Test Subjects still crave for it after all these years. I thought that Quinntet The Cocktail should be a variation of H.Q. Cocktail: after all, they are her underlings and in the mentioned story some of them envied Harley’s position, so “the copy” of her drink is justifiable.

So here it is. Drink modelled after H.Q., but not quite there… as I said in the beginning of this post, its “little off”.

 

Next time… I got carried away with pathetic and miserable excuses for a “super”villain, so one cocktail from that theme coming up. And also another character who is not pathetic at all… all they have in common is their enemy, Batman…

 

The spring is on its way, but not quite here yet… time for zingy cocktails, this time getting inspiration from Thunderbolts. I’ve published only one T-bolts cocktail so far, Songbird, so I guess it’s about time to add couple of recipes to that lot.

 

JOLT

2 parts Malibu

1 part licorice vodka

1 part red grenadine

OR…

3 parts Malibu

2 parts licorice vodka

2 parts red grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a small old fashioned glass with some ice in it.

Licorice vodka, check out here how it’s done.

Helen Takahama was very young when she joined Thunderbolts (not aware of the group’s true nature at the time), so I thought her cocktail should have an appearance of “petite” or “nice little drink”… but that’s just the looks: the drink itself sure has a zesty taste, it really packs a punch, or in this case, a Jolt.

Jolt The Cocktail kicks you with a weird but satisfying combination of licorice and coconut… the combo certainly has certain “teenage booze” feel in it, adding a thematic bonus to the drink.

No more licorice vodka in the next drink, but I’ll hang onto the Malibu bottle…

 

METEORITE

2 parts cachaca (or some other sugar cane spirit with a strong taste)

2 parts Malibu

1 part banana liqueur (colourless or yellow)

dash (or two) red grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with cherry, maybe add small ice cube.

This cocktail isn’t about Valerie Barnhardt, it’s about Moonstone acting as Thunderbolts Meteorite. Dr. Karla Sofen, twisted evil psychologist getting her superpowers from mysterious alien gem.

This drink hits like, well, a meteorite… but I also tried to describe Dr. Sofen’s skills of subtle psychological manipulation, getting people to do what she wants… I balanced cachaca’s raw taste with a blend of coconut and banana, sealed with some added sweetness in the form of grenadine; combining raw power with cunning nuances.

Meteorite The Cocktail sure plays a role in Finnish spring: the weather is warm-ish, sun is shining but the summer definitely is not here yet, not even close… so you’ll need “strong medicine” to survive… but I will taste this again when the summer has finally reached The North: the drink sure has a lot of “tropical” aromas in it, I guess it tastes great during Summer Cocktail Party.

 

I’ll try to post new cocktails before before May Day… Hmm, 1st of May is also known as International Worker’s Day… so maybe I’ll combine superheroes/villains and the oppression of working class in my next post?

 

Hello, Cocktail Fans! As I promised last time, we’ll dig into my liquid creations during my trip to Kenya in March. Last time in Africa my cocktail experiments were pretty spontaneus, but this time I was determined beforehand for creating “simple but sufficient “drink list for the hotel where I stayed.

Aloe Park is not for those who absolutely require five star accommodation, but if you’re looking for a nice and peaceful place with an eye for “an local African feel”, still serving the needs of tourist, Aloe Park is your place!

I guess many of us Westerners have never heard about the town of Naivasha, roughly 100km North-West of Nairobi… that’s the beauty of it! It’s not “A Tourist Hell” as Nairobi and Mombasa are: instead it has all the best a small Kenyan town has to offer: friendly people and the privacy and peace tourist can only dream in more well-known destinations. And it’s a great base for exploring numerous Nature Parks, close and far.

Getting there is pretty easy: just contact Aloe Park beforehand and they’ll arrange a trusted driver to meet you at Nairobi Airport, he’ll take you to the front door of Aloe Park at very decent price. You’ll avoid all the hassle with hideously over-priced airport taxis.

But now it’s time to check out the cocktails!

 

DAWA

Definitely not my creation… Kenyan National Cocktail you can find anywhere; Dawa is Swahili word for “medicine” 😀

Vodka, lime and honey… and variations of that basic recipe are plenty (as pictured drink, it had some mint in it). And please note that “vodka” can also mean Kenya Cane.

 

As Dawa is Kenyan National Cocktail, Kenya Cane is Kenyan National Spirit. It’s not vodka, it’s not rum… it’s exactly what it says in the label, “sugar cane spirit”; as Brazil has cachaca, Kenya has K-Cane.

Pictured “Citrus Fusion” is the best version, in my humble opinion… like Absolut Citron meeting cachaca. K-Cane is also available in plain and coconut versions, but Citrus Fusion combines The Kick of distilled sugar cane with The Crispness of lime very well.

The brown mug is fresh sugar cane juice, just squeezed… as you might have guessed, the sugar rush is immense after drinking this. Your dentist recommends this ;P

Okay, let’s check out what kind of cocktails I created for Aloe Park… so you can order them when you visit Naivasha!

 

Working Title “DUSTY DAY / DUSTY WINDS / WAITING FOR THE RAINS”

Oops, I forgot my pipe in the picture…

I visited Naivasha at the very end of dry season… I took a risk: I might end up sitting in my room, staring at the massive downpour outside… or I could witness nature documentary miracle with my own eyes: first rains bring the nature to life, in a couple of days yellow-brown landscape turns into a lush green scenery.

Well, neither came true… it was just the bitter end of dry season: worthy experience on it’s own, don’t get me wrong. Anyway, hiking after animals in dusty terrain brought me an idea…

1 part Kenya Cane Citrus Fusion

1 part Triple Sec

1 part Naivashan lime juice (see below)

2 to 3 parts Krest Bitter Lemon

Build into a suitable glass. Add some ice and a lime wedge. Enjoy after dusty, still breathtaking day among the wildlife of Great Rift Valley.

Naivashan limes… there seems to be two kinds of limes available at Naivashan marketplaces (great places to visit, true “small African town ambience”): small ones, that don’t give much juice at all… but that juice is immensely sour! The bigger ones have surprisingly yellow pulp and juice (as you can see in the photo), they taste like a combination of an orange and lime.

For creating “Dusty Day” at your home, I recommend mixing orange and lime juice and use it as “Naivashan lime juice”.

You noticed: this drink is essentially good ol’ Kamikaze with Krest Bitter Lemon added… but vodka exchanged to Kenya Cane and Naivashan lime “orange-lime”-dimension lets the drink stand on it’s own two feet, instead of just being the same drink, renamed.

 

Visiting Lake Nakuru National Park from Naivasha is much more easier than doing the same trip from Nairobi. When you leave Naivasha 5 am, you’ll hit Nakuru just when the sun is rising and the animals are most active; try to do the same from Nairobi, you’ll have to leave 3 am… or arrive hopelessly late, just to see animals hiding from the sun in distant shadows. (This picture also reminds me that I haven’t designed a cocktail for Rhino…)

The following drink is an old classic, done in “Naivashan Style”…

 

Working Title “HIPPO’S NECK”

2 parts Stoney (see below)

1 part Viceroy 5 yrs brandy

(dash of Angostura Bitters, if desired)

Build into a suitable short glass. Give it a gentle stir, add some ice.

Kenyan Stoney is not a ginger ale (as used in Horse’s Neck), it’s more like a “ginger lemonade”: the ginger taste is immense, but not fiery. Viceroy is Kenyan brandy, definitely worth tasting.

So, Hippo’s Neck is Horse’s Neck made out of local ingredients. I adjusted the ratios to benefit them optimally… and since the result is a bit more intense experience than classic Horse’s Neck I would serve this in a bit more shorter glass… and since hippo has shorter neck than horse, the drink is therefore called Hippo’s Neck 😀

 

There are plenty of hippos at Lake Naivasha, of course; these specimens seem to be very content with their existence. I highly recommend taking a boat trip at the lake: gentle winds cool you down and it’s a birdwatcher’s paradise!

And another cocktail utilizing Viceroy 5…

 

Hasty photo taken from the moving car in the street of Naivasha… motorcycle taxi, “boda-boda”, with donkey cart on the background.

Working Title “BODA-BODA”

5 parts Viceroy 5 yrs

2 to 3 parts Triple Sec

2 parts lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. For lime juice I used smaller, more sour Naivashan limes (see “Dusty Day”, above). To balance that, I recommend 3 parts Triple Sec instead of 2 you would use for Sidecar…

…since this is Sidecar, using Viceroy in the place of cognac. But because I didn’t see no sidecars in Naivasha (many cargo trikes, though) I thought this should be called Boda-Boda, after local motorcycle taxis. Great and cheap way for getting around Naivasha, if you’re ready to accept the fact that there are no helmets… but drivers are true professionals, they accelerate/decelerate very smoothly and drive at sensible speeds, no need to hang onto your dear life white-knuckled.

 

Hell’s Gate National Park is a short drive from the town of Naivasha. If you’re not interested in driving in the park, you can rent a bike at the gate and explore the scenery and wildlife at your own pace…as did the the production crew of The Lion King, this place was one of the main inspiratios for that film. Please note the tiny zebras at he bottom of the picture, they’ll set that enormous cliff to the right scale!

 

Working Title “NAIVASHAN SUNSET”

Red part:

1 part red Zappa (see below)

1 part thick mango juice

Yellow (orange-ish) part (roughly two times in volume compared to red part):

1 part Kenya Cane Citrus Fusion

1 part Naivashan orange juice (see below)

Put some ice into a highball glass. Shake/stir red part with ice, pour into a glass. Shake/stir yellow (orange-ish) part with ice and gently layer on top of the red part.

As the midday sun of the Equatorial Africa is ruthless, so is the yellow part of this drink… but when the sun sets the things cool down; the anise of the red part represents that feeling when scorching sun surrenders for the day, when the Comic Book-Oriented Tourist From Far North can sigh in relief and reminisce all the wonderful wildlife experiences that occured during that day.

Naivashan orange juice… it’s orange juice, all right, but different than what we Westerners get from the supermarkets. First of all, it’s strongly orange in colour instead of yellow (as you can see)… it also blends very well with Kenya Cane: the result is not just Screwdriver but something more… it’s hard to explain… more “full-bodied”.

Anyway, made from local ingredients here in Finland the result is pretty sad. But I found a solution (of sorts), keep on reading.

Bunch of alcohols used for cocktails in this post, Zappa far left. Zappa is a South African sambuca, available in many colours: I bought red version.

NAIVASHAN SUNSET, pretty sorry non-Kenyan version

Red part:

1 part thick mango juice

1 part “Zappa replacement”: 1/2 strawberry syrup/red grenadine, 1/2 strong anise aroma alcohol

Yellow part:

1 part Kenya Cane Citrus Fusion (or in an emergency, Absolut Citron)

1 part pineapple juice

“quite a lot” of lime juice

Prepare as actual Naivashan Sunset. Since I can’t replicate Naivashan orange juice with anything found in Finnish stores (even if I squeeze the juice myself), let’s go for the “dull scorch” of pineapple, lime and booze.

Let’s face it… this is pretty sad version of the original… all the more reason for visiting Naivasha where The Orange Juice Is Right! 😀

 

One of the best things about Naivasha is that you don’t have to rush into the national parks to get a glimpse of wildlife. You can just stroll to the shore of the lake, order a cup of nice Kenyan coffee and observe all sorts of animals around you: as I said earlier, Kenya is truly a Birdwatcher’s Paradise. And speaking of coffee…

 

Aloe Park’s faithful guardian Timmy is observing what’s happening on the porch table…

ESPRESSO…erm, COFFEE MARTINI, Aloe Park Style

1 part Kenya Cane Citrus Fusion

1 part Kahlúa

2 parts Kenyan coffee

Shake with ice and strain into the cocktail glass.

Aloe Park’s owner is Finnish, so she enjoys coffee as any other Finlander (including Yours Truly). We didn’t have any espresso, so we used normal coffee instead: Espresso Martini uses one part espresso, but to get the coffee flavour right you’ll have to use two parts ordinary coffee or K-Cane and Kahlúa will dominate the drink too much.

This blog is about superhero cocktails: in this post we’ve discussed cocktails, but I didn’t forget about superheroes while visiting Kenya. Read on…

 

I bought some toys from Finland and took them to Kenya, gave to the children’s home near Naivasha. Of course I didn’t forget the superhero aspect, I bought Spider-Man and Batman costumes…

…and let’s not forget superheroines: Wonder Woman and Supergirl! 😀

Toys and costumes ended up in local children’s home as planned. Some of the stuff I gave to the Naivashan preschool (footballs, skip ropes, kite)… but Spider-Man costume found its way to the Real Life Superhero…

I had the privilege of visiting this young boy’s home. His clubfoot has been operated three times, and now it seems that in a year or so he can discard his crutches and walk without them, for the first time in his life. As a proof of him being a Real Life Superhero I gave him the Spider-Man costume: you should’ve seen the smile! And whatta coincidence… check out what sort of shirt he happened to wear at the moment: left upper arm 😀

 

This post started with a Kenyan cocktail recipe, not creation of mine… so it’s just appropriate to draw it to an end along the same guidelines…

Taking a break from all the wildlife experiences, letting someone else do the drinks for a chance… in Nairobi, in seafood restaurant Ocean Basket (obviously)

RELUCTANT SAILOR

Bourbon, Martini Rosso, Angostura Bitters, dash of some kind of orange essence or that orange wedge really had some intense aroma (wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case)… I don’t know what were the ratios (working on it ;P), but I guess you can imagine how refreshing the drink was in the hot afternoon.

Strawberry Gin & Tonic on the background.

 

So, those were the cocktails on my trip to Kenya. If you’ve ever had a desire to see African savannah, I can’t recommend Kenya (and especially Naivasha) enough: if there is cheaper and/or more convenient way to explore Great Rift Valley, it’s beautiful scenery and magnificient wildlife, I sure would like to hear about it!

Next time: just superheroes, no travel pics ;P

 

Greetings from Africa, again! 😀 Last time I visited the continent was about 1,5 years ago, when I got back I was thrilled to create “Law of The Jungle”-cocktails: Black Panther and Gorilla Grodd and Animal Man and Tigra.

Local booze (especially Uganda Waragi) inspired me to create cocktails for local hotel… and I did it again: we’ll get to those in my next post, but while I go through my notes I present you two more “wildlife-inspired drinks”.

With these recipes I’ll publish one more cocktail recipe compilation: Teen Titans, you’ll find it in Recipes and downloads.

 

Sorry, no green animals (except the gharial)… ;P

BEAST BOY

1 part sour apple liqueur

1 part lemon juice

1 part extra dry vermouth

Shake with ice and strain into a small cocktail glass with some crushed ice in it.

As with Animal Man… how to “describe” a fellow with animal powers in cocktail? What’s the taste of cheetah’s speed? Bear’s strenght? Keen eyesight of the eagle?

Well, as in Animal Man: instead of desperate attempt to include too much in one glass I decided to create simple refreshing drink instead: at least the colour is right.

And if you’re very observant, you’ll notice that Beast Boy is a variant of Bullfrog. Same twisted alliance of extra dry vermouth and lemon juice, Triple Sec’s sourness replaced with different kind of “crispy tart” flavour.

 

RAVEN

1 part vodka

1 part Parfait Amour

1 part De Kyuper Sour Rhubarb

OR…

3 parts vodka

2 parts Parfait Amour

3 parts De Kyuper Sour Rhubarb

Shake with ice and strain into the cocktail glass.

Combination of Parfait and Sour Rhubarb creates nice “mystic” feeling: way too sweet, but some vodka will cut it down. Anyway, I think this is a decent representation of Raven’s mysterious powers.

Test Subject group couldn’t decide which version was better, the one with more rose-vanilla-aroma or the one with more distinct rhubarb taste… so I included both versions, you decide which one suits you best.

This is not the last time I use De Kyuper’s Sour Rhubarb: the taste is delivered with artificial essence, of course, but in this case the result is very satisfactory. Unfortunately same cannot be said about eg. De Kyuper’s Blueberry liqueur: artificial stench and taste are almost revolting. I’m a fan of blueberries, but that muck was hideous.

Next time… Cocktails from my holiday in Kenya! 😀

 

St. Patrick’s Day is upon us! Today’s drinks have nothing to do with Ireland, but at least they’re green! 😀

Good excuse to spam few photos from my last visit to Ireland, summer 2018…

 

Couple of limerock formations in Marble Arch Caves. If you ever visit Ireland, I strongly recommend visiting them. Okay, the cave is situated just a north of the border, in Northern Ireland, but anyway.

After such a gloomy underground pictures one might expect some Batcave-related drink, but instead of that we’ll go to Vietnam…

 

CHESHIRE

Ingredients: gin (London Dry, as usual), Lillet, Midori, tequila blanco/absinth, creme de menthe, fresh rosemary

1. Mix one part creme de menthe and one part tequila blanco OR absinth. Put in the freezer to cool.

2. Put lot of rosemary sprigs and 5 parts of gin in the shaker. Mush with pestle throughoutly, let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

(3. Enjoy another cocktail while waiting ;P )

4. Place couple of rosemary sprigs into the cocktail glass, add some crushed ice. Add cold dark green mixture from the freezer.

5. Add 5 parts Lillet and 1 part Midori to the shaker with gin and rosemary, add ice and shake vigorously. Layer to the glass, add more rosemary sprig on top.

(6. Optional: dry some rosemary sprigs beforehand. Light them up, to burn as incense, and serve the drink along them. Scent is pretty… hmm, intoxicating/”poisonous”. This maneuver is not necessary, but a nice touch anyway.)

So, we have pretty laborous cocktail with strong rosemary aroma? What this has to do with deadly assassin Cheshire?

One of my friends, Test Subject B., got his gin served with burning rosemary alongside while visiting Vietnam: he said it made “sort of nice ambience” for a relaxing moment with a glass of gin.

I tried it, burning rosemary in my home, with or without drinking gin, searching for inspiration… the smell was pretty intoxicating after a while (well, I burned them all day long)… Heureka!

Keywords: intoxicating and Vietnam! Cheshire, assassin with Vietnamese background, sharp fingernails coated with toxin!

I started making experiments, and realized that you don’t necessarily need to burn the rosemary, alcohol is efficient solvent. We have soaked many things in vodka during the progression of this blog (licorice, jelly beans, Skittles, ginger, coffee etc.), now it’s time to drop some rosemary into the London Dry Gin… actually I recommend brands with sharper (some say “cheaper”) taste for Cheshire: instead of Beefeater or Gordon’s try eg. Finsbury or Greenall’s.

So, drink with “fingernail poison of Cherhire” was taking form… but something was missing…

As I’ve ranted, I never layer drinks just foor the looks (not even in Mr.Mxyzptlk, those layers also serve a non-visual purpose): layers, the order of drinking them, has to serve a purpose while describing cocktail’s namesake. I admit, I repeat myself to some extent while using the bottom layer for some kind of “end twist”: it might be comforting relief (as in eg. The Atom or Starfire) or a nasty surprise disguised as comfort (in Joker).

This time there’s no such thing, dark green bottom layer is just “a cherry on top of the cake”: it changes the the “overall sensation” of Cheshire The Cocktail just a bit, just before the end. Creme de menthe and tequila give more “serene” result, if you prefer “nasty final blow” (as you might, considering she’s an assassin) use absinth with menthe. Your call.

 

And before the next drink… more pictures from Ireland! 😀

 

First of all: it was raining, but the weather was much hotter than you might think. This rocky shore was a fantastic place for an avid fossil collector/spotter, as Yours Truly happens to be.

 

Remains of crinoids from the Carboniferous Period…

 

…some of them with spectacular detail. This beach is next to Sligo, in Western Ireland. Don’t forget to taste the oysters, fresh from the Atlantic Ocean! Dozen oysters per pint of Guinness, that’s my recommended ratio 😀

 

…and with the awe that the fossilized remains of animals, over 300 million years old, bring to our humble primate minds, we head toward the next awesome character, and towards her cocktail…

 

POLARIS

3 parts sour apple liqueur

1 part creme de menthe

Prepare a frappe: cool suitable small glasses in the freezer beforehand, super cold. Fill them with shaven/crushed ice, add a straw and an apple wedge, then quickly shake ingredients with ice until glacially cold and strain into the glasses.

Polaris, the daughter of Magneto… truly a inspiring character, and I pondered how to approach her, cocktail-wise… I decided to stick to her trademark, green colour, tried to reproduce the “sheer power” that Magneto the Cocktail manifests (through raw alcohol content)… but I ended up creating disappointment after another.

So, I scrapped my plans and crated simple frappe: straightforward, with a zest. Powerful throught “sting”, not by alcohol volume.

I think it’s okay. Truly a “Springtime Special” with sour apple mirth.

 

Okay, thank you for bearing with my holiday photos. I’m working for something special next time, it looks like it’s gonna take a while… see you in two weeks or so. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Éirinn go Brách!