Last few posts have featured nothing but highballs, it’s time for smaller glasses. First one’s called “Darkseid”, variation of Caipirinha, and the second has nothing to do with superheroes. Both have that “breezy” feel that fits spring-early summer so perfectly.

 

 

DARKSEID

-2 parts cachaca

-1 part Kahlúa

-1 part lime juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into old fashioned glass filled with ice. You might want to slip in couple of lime wedges.

So, it’s Caipirinha with coffee aroma, without muddling. Lime juice replaces actual limes, and Kahlúa contains enough cane sugar. Anyway: it’s dark, it’s brisk, something worthy of touching tyrant Darkseid’s lips.

 

BULLFROG

I didn’t invent this, but I thought to let you know.

-1 part dry vermouth

-1 part Triple Sec

-1 part lemon juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into suitable glass: something small and neat. Add some ice and green cocktail cherry.

I think this is a great cocktail, I’m happy that I found it! Simple, elegant, zesty.

 

Ok, next time we’ll explore highballs again and I’ll introduce you a recipe I stumbled upon… it might be The Best Cocktail ever, surpassing even Tony Bennett I praised before. So… until next week…

 

Bad news, lactose intolerants… both of today’s recipes use dairy products. In “Mr. Freeze” you can use lactose-free cream, but there’s no substitute for evaporated milk in “Jack Frost”.

MR. FREEZE

-4 parts vodka

-4 parts lime juice

-6 parts simple syrup

-8 parts cream

-1 (or 2) part Blue Curacao

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into chilled highball glass filled with crushed ice. Serve with a straw, unless you like milk whiskers.

This drink is very straightforward: cool and sweet cream, balanced with lime juice. If you’re worried that the lime juice will “separate” the cream, add the juice last, just before shaking. I guess it’s possible to transform cream into disgusting lumps, but I doubt it: I ruined couple of earlier versions, they had too much lime compared to cream… separation shouldn’t happen with this ratio.

If you’re willing to risk milk whiskers, serve the drink from margarita glass…

 

Dip the rim of the glass into blue curacao and sugar before preparing the rest of the drink. Powdered sugar gives even more “arctic” look.

…And that’s also the way you start making “Jack Frost”. Recipe is not my own invention, but I thought to let you know.

JACK FROST

Prepare margarita glass, as above.

-1 part coconut milk

-1 part evaporated milk

-1 part blanco tequila

-Blue Curacao for colour

Put the ingredients into blender, mix with ice and strain into margarita glass filled with crushed ice. If you don’t have a blender, whip the milks together vigorously, add tequila and shake with ice.

This is a nice drink: cool cream with a tequila sting. You can substitute vodka for tequila in “Mr. Freeze”, but it won’t be as effective.

 

Easy way to approach the character would be some layered shot. Too easy, too obvious, I wanted to represent Dent’s duality in the taste of the drink, not just in the appearance.

This proved out as a difficult task. You can mix two different aromas, but to keep them separate throughout the lifespan of one cocktail… my experiments ended up as disappointing muddles, one after another…

Then I discovered that god-forsaken bottle of Passoã from the dusty corner of my cabinet. I bought it long ago, out of curiosity; taste was horribly artificial, I suppose it’s targeted for teenage customers… I buried the bottle in the bar cabinet, out of sight… but Passoã turned out as the “secret ingredient” I had been looking for!

 

FLIP OF A COIN

-3 parts Passoã

-1 part Campari

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into highball glass. Lots of ice.

 

The drink is simple but effective. Every sip you take… first you taste that kinda childish sweetness, and when it washes away Campari ambushes you; sip after sip, I love it. Finally some use for Passoã! If you prefer more of that bitter aftertaste, simply add Campari.

Only one recipe this time, sorry about that. Two recipes next time, I promise.

 

It’s not summer yet, but at least it’s not cold anymore… and instead of cloudy skies sun is shining brightly! So, feeling “summery”, I decided to publish this unorthodox highball recipe. Celebrate spring, celebrate summer… with gloomy undertone.

You’ll need coffee-infused white rum, the same we used in Catwoman earlier on.

SCARECROW

-4 parts coffee-rum (or in emergency, ordinary white rum)

-3 parts Kahlúa

-2 parts lime juice

-8 parts pineapple juice

-4 parts orange juice.

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into highball glass, add some ice. If possible, serve with actual straw.

YES, IT LOOKS LIKE MUDWATER, that’s the point. Garnish the drink with some weird/spooky stuff to emphasize the theme.

Test Subjects described this drink “weird, but fascinating”… they couldn’t figure out what was the “murky” aroma… well, coffee, of course, but the trick is to balance it with juices to create twofold drink: nice summer beverage… but The Nightmare is just behind the corner, you can almost see it (or in this case, almost taste it).

DR. CRANE aka. “Quick-and-dirty Scarecrow”

There’s no coffee in this one, but red vermouth gives the drink same kind of muddy look and weird gloomy aroma as Kahlúa does for actual recipe. I like the one with Kahlúa more, but I publish this one as well for those who want to try it out.

-1 part red vermouth

-1 part white rum

-2 parts pineapple juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into highball glass, add some ice. Garnish as above.

(Credits go to my friend who pointed out that Tosti Rosso and orange juice mix together well. Thank you S., I refined your idea to my own taste.)

Yes, it’s time to soak licorice again, just as we did in post #2 (“Getting ready for New Year’s Eve“). Exactly the same procedure, but use gin instead of vodka. You might want to extract the licorice little shorter duration as you would with vodka, or that “gin sting” will suffocate somewhere there.

Both of these cocktails will turn out okay if you use licorice-infused vodka, in case you don’t want to do experiments with your precious gin.

RA’S AL GHUL

Refreshing drink for Ra’s Al Ghul to enjoy after taking a dip in the Pit.

-1 part licorice gin

-1 part red vermouth

-1 part Campari

Stir into old fashioned glass with ice and garnish with orange peel.

THAT’S RIGHT, it’s Negroni with licorice twist! Give it a try.

IN THIS STYLE 10/6

The obvious choice for Mad Hatter’s cocktail would be spiking the cup of tea with whiskey or something like that… but how about Jervis Tech having a glass of ICE tea?

-1 part simple syrup

-2 parts lemon juice

-3 parts licorice gin

-4 parts soda water

Put some lime wedges into highball glass, as you would with ice tea. Mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in the glass with ice, top up with soda water, give it a little stir.

CORRECT, AGAIN: it’s Tom Collins, but because of licorice it tastes completely different… and it looks like ice tea.

These two drinks are variations of old classics, I think well worth publishing. Check them out, Negroni Fans and Tom Collins Lovers, and tell me if you liked them.

Poison Ivy is one of my favourite Bat-villains, that’s why she deserves not just one but two cocktails bearing her name.

 

POISON IVY

Poison Ivy’s lipstick tastes like this.

-6 parts extra dry Martini

-2 parts Luxardo Maraschino

-2 parts Kirschwasser

-2 parts lime juice

-1 part creme de menthe

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass decorated with some suitable plastic plants.

The colour is pale green, if you prefer a bit more deeper green use 2 parts of creme de menthe.

Drink reeks pretty intoxicating, thanks to Kirschwasser, and that’s the point. If you want to introduce floral element, carefully add few drops of Parfait Amour after pouring the drink into the glass.

 

“Poison Ivy” is meant to be demonstration of her powers when she is attacking outright, in plain sight. Next one is more subtle, more seducing…

 

PAMELA

-1 part dark rum (Plantation Barbados Grande Reserve recommended)

-2 parts blueberry juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into highball glass with some ice.

The choice of blueberry juice is the key to success. I use high quality concentrate made without additives, diluted with water 1-1 instead of recommended 1-3. Once again I used my friends as test subjects, didn’t tell them what juice I was using… if you choose the right brands people recognize the berry flavour but can’t figure out what berry exactly… natural sweetness of berries blends with dark rum’s “sting”… the result is a nice highball drink. Simple to make,  yet the intriguing taste makes you crave one more… just like men who want one more kiss from Pamela Isley…

 

That’s all, folks. One cocktail with strong kirsch taste, and one highball drink rich in berries; next time something else.

 

I don’t pretend to be Irish, but St. Pat’s sure is one nice day to celebrate. I know the celebration is supposed to be much more than just drinking and pissing in the street corner while wearing that stupid leprechaun hat, but I dare to introduce couple of recipes for you to enjoy… because let’s face it: many people drink at least that one glass on March 17th.

Of course choice #1 to drink would be beer and/or whiskey, Guinness and Jameson and so on… That’s why I don’t use them in these recipes, to give you an alternative. World is full of whiskey cocktails inspired by St. Pat, many versions of “Shamrock” for example, but somehow I find Irish countryside so solemn, beautiful but kind of somber… It calls for something harsh, something bitter…

Yes, it’s a cliché to photograph sheep in Ireland, but I did it (and on the trip before this one, and before that…). But while gazing this landscape I’m thinking Green Chartreuse, once again. If you’ve tried my previous recipes, you’ll have the bottle lying there somewhere.

This time we’re doing frappés. They’re great Escape Route: you have some hideous liqueur nobody likes? Well, shave some ice and pour it in, suddenly everyone loves it. They’re The Omelette of the Cocktail World, leftovers prepared the right way are #1. Of course these two frappés are not made out of leftovers, I actually tested many versions to get them just right.

Usually frappés are made with ice mushed in blender… I think it melts too quickly, your only option is to drink it fast before the drink turns into watered-down sludge. Instead of blender I use ice crusher, the kind of you crank by hand. And instead of shot glass usually used for frappés I pour my concotions into slightly bigger glass, for example in pictures below I used 1dl (3 1/2 oz) tequila glass. It’s made out of very thick glass, which means it stays cold for a long time when take them out of freezer…  so you have a choice with your frappé: you can just suck it down quickly, or you can savor it for a moment.

 

RIDDLER

Well, it’s green! I don’t know if there’s anything mysterious in this one, but I think it’s refreshing.

Put suitable glass beforehand in freezer to cool them down, cold as possible.

-1 part Green Chartreuse

-1 part Creme de Menthe

-1 part Triple Sec

-1 part lime juice

Shake ingredients with ice and pour into glass filled with crushed/blended ice. Green straw, green cocktail cherry with green pick… green, green, green. If you want to forget about Riddler and feel more Irish stick shamrock somewhere in there.

 

Talking about Green… Ireland’s forests are truly beautiful. But let’s stay in topic and move on to our next recipe…

 

KAL-EL

Kal-El was the last Kryptonian alive… until General Zod and kwazillions of other survivors flooded to Earth to take the edge out of that story *sigh*… But here it is, Last Son of Krypton:  powerful and kind of sweet with a bitter memory of long lost home planet.

Once again, freeze glasses beforehand.

-1 part Blue Curacao

-1 part Green Chartreuse

Shake ingredients with ice and pour into glass filled with crushed/blended ice. The straw, and cherry+pick should be red and yellow, of course.

 

One more pic from Erin’s Island… sorry, can’t help it: it’s such a nice place!

Getting sick of the Green already? I hope not, because next time we’ll get intoxicated by Poison Ivy… two different versions inspired by that character, and of course one of them is green.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Éirinn go Brách!

 

If you don’t like ginger you might as well skip this post altogether.

We’ll start with familiar soaking process, using dark rum and ground ginger. “What? Ground ginger, not chopped ginger root since it has more flavour?” Surprisingly you get the same result with a pinch of ground ginger as with a mountain of chopped root when you soak them in alcohol… so it’s better to save more expensive root for cooking etc. We’re not looking for subtle aromas here, just raw and fiery ginger explosion, so we’re using cheaper ground spice.

Use brimful teaspoon of ginger per 1 dl (3 1/3 oz) of dark rum… don’t use your best vintage here, cheap rum is okay (I use Rum Negrita). Let it soak for 15-30 min and filter: that might turn out to be little tricky, since soaked ginger-mud tends to clog e.g. paper coffee filters.

The result is unpalatable ginger-rum (unless you’re a VERY BIG fan of ginger) but trust me: that vile broth transforms into beautiful cocktails. Actually I use tablespoon instead of teaspoon to measure ginger when preparing these cocktails for myself… but I don’t want to freak you out, start with teaspoon and work your way up if necessary.

 

GOLDEN LASSO

This cocktail isn’t that potent, but I guess you’ll start babbling truth about your mother-in-law etc. if you slurp half of dozen of them…you might even confess you think of Wonder Woman every night before you drift to sleep… I don’t, of course not, but someone might…

-2 parts ginger-rum

-2 parts apple juice

-1 part simple syrup

-1 part lime juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. You might want to use some “wonderwomanish” garnish, but I didn’t have anything applicable at hand.

 

SPEED FORCE

I advice against knocking these back as quickly as Flash would, result would be a very short evening.

-2 parts ginger-rum

-1 part lime juice

-1 part red grenadine

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into old fashioned glass. Add some ice.

 

Those were my suggestions for using ginger in cocktails. If you got inspired and invent something nice please let me know.

Always looking for a excuse to sip cocktails… St. Patrick’s Day is closing, so I guess next time I have to introduce something green. Well, I’ve done more than my fair share with green drinks – Venom, Killing Joke, Killer Croc – but I’ll do one more to honour Erin’s Isle… and it’s the taste, not the colour, that counts.

 

Last time we made a drink using tequila… and now we’re going to do it again. No shots this time, and instead of gold tequila we’ll use blanco. And maybe you already know this: always use 100% puro de agave tequila. Non-100% is okay for Tequila Sunrise or Deadshot (last post) but otherwise… pure agave. It costs a little more, sure, but it’s really worth it.

The role of 100% agave is essential in these two drinks. First one is my own creation and I’m pretty sure I won’t make many friends with that one… tequila and absinth?!?! Well, I know I love it.

I’ll try to redeem myself with second recipe: people who tell me they resent tequila drink it bottoms up, wondering what’s the main ingredient in this wonderful (but very potent) cocktail… so it goes, tequila has bad reputation because people shoot second grade s**t when they want to get wasted. So it goes… drink only 100% agave, try some quality reposado or añejo, and you’ll see what I mean.

BANE

I guess there are two things to consider when designing a cocktail for Bane… it must be green, like Venom, and considering character’s backround it must contain tequila.

-3 parts blanco tequila

-5 parts orange juice

-dash of Blue Curacao (for colour)

-dash of absinth

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

[EDIT: new version of Bane can be found here]

How much is “the dash” of absinth? Well, what brand of tequila you’re using? You’ll have to try and find out. Anyway, ratio of tequila and absinth is essential in this cocktail: absinth either “gets lost” in tequila or other way around… but I guess not too many people don’t have patience to find it out.

Now people probably hate me, but here’s that other recipe that’ll save me. It’s not my own concoction, sorry to say that, but I want to bring it to your attention because it seems not too many people know it. You can find it in Luxardo homepage, but here is version modified to my taste…

VIDA VERDE

Ingredients:

-couple of sprigs of mint

-4 wheels of cucumber, about 1/2cm (1/4 inch) thick

-2 parts tequila blanco

-1 part Luxardo Maraschino

-1 part of sweet ‘n sour mix

Place the mint and cucumber in a mixing glass and muddle briskly, then add sour mix and liquors. Shake with ice and strain into margarita glass, preferably decorated with cucumber wheels and a sprig of mint. Enjoy.

As a “sweet ‘n sour mix” I use hand squeezed lime juice and simple syrup, 1:1 ratio.

Next time we’ll do something else than tequila: rum, actually… rum cocktails with strong ginger flavour. And no Batman adversaries for a change.

I don’t understand logic behind drinking shots. Maybe that’s because I prefer to taste what I drink, enjoy the aroma; I don’t want to just wash the drink down as quickly as possible. Okay, I understand that people do shots when they want to get wasted… but still: you could sip your glass with haste, meaning that you get shitfaced more quickly (if that’s you’re goal) and still get some idea what you’re actually gulping down.

I don’t have to understand every drinking habit in the world, that’s fine. I don’t drink shots, but that doesn’t mean I can’t develop one and introduce it to those who like them.

And hey, let’s face it… If the drink is called “Deadshot”… of course it must be a shot.

 

DEADSHOT

It’s time to soak things in alcohol again. Jelly beans in gold tequila, to be exact. Yes, notorious gold tequila that tequila afficionados (as myself) shun and others knock back in shot glasses or in Tequila Sunrises. This time that cheap kinda-tequila is actually going to taste good.

Put some jelly beans in the jar and cover them with tequila. Two hours is enough to give you liquid coloured between yellow (as in picture) and orange-reddish, depending on the brand of candy you used. There’s going to be some nasty slimethreads floating around, strain them. And unlike alcohol-infused licorice in post #2, these jelly beans taste pretty awesome! Sure, they’re are semi-transparent sponge-like oddities… but hey, if you’re gonna drink shots just to get pissed you might as well munch those lollapaloozas with a spoon!

About colour… it seems that despite of all those green and blue beans the final result turns out something in yellow-reddish-spectrum. Just to be on the safe side you could pick suspicious colours out before soaking (and use them in “Power Up!”, below). If you think the final colour is too yellow, adjust with red grenadine.

And now for the actual recipe, which is pretty simple…

-2 parts jelly bean-infused gold tequila

-1 part apple juice

-1 part lemon juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into chilled shot glass.

Natural sourness of gold tequila is balanced with jelly bean flavour: people (those infamous Test Subjects of mine again) notice the booze in the glass is something else than regular vodka but they can’t figure it out… lemon gives the drink that always welcome citrus lightness, and apple juice is basically a neutral element to dillute the drink down a bit. Skip it if you want stronger shots.

On the contrary: if you fancy the taste you can do longer version…

 

POWER UP!

I made these in my friend’s party. I used vodka instead of gold tequila, but that was a mistake: result was too “jellybeanish” without tequila’s sour counterweight. Some liked it, I didn’t, do your own experiments.

-2 parts jelly bean-infused booze

-1 part lemon juice

-3 parts apple juice

Shake with ice and strain into highball glass with some ice and those blue/green jelly beans in it. You don’t actually need a straw to drink this, but use one anyway: you’ll need some kind of implement to scoop out those jelly beans after you’ve finished the actual drink. It seems everyone wants to devour them after observing them in the bottom of the glass!

 

I mentioned I am a tequila fan. It sure is A Gift from Gods, greatest distilled alcohol ever invented (along mezcal and rum). Next time I’ll intoduce two recipes using tequila: first is something only tequila-lovers enjoy, I suppose, but the other one is the exact opposite. You can clearly taste tequila, but even people who beforehand told me they hate “that vile Mexican booze” are surprised… “Can tequila-based cocktail taste this good?”