Alpha Orionis

Special mention will be made acknowledging any faithful reader who can tell me the significance of that title.

Today, we try a different variation on yesterday’s Wolf Bite. This one is called a Beetlejuice cocktail, though I’m not sure if it’s a reference to the 1988 movie with Michael Keaton, or maybe just to the smooshed innards of a beetle. Either way, it’s appropriate for Halloween.

Tim Burton had a surprising amount of success with that movie. It grossed almost $75 million in the theaters, won an Academy Award, and spawned an animated TV series and a stage musical. It has an 85% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And thus, not surprisingly, there’s been talk of a sequel…for the past 30-something years. A script for a sequel was written in the 1990s, and it’s been re-written a number of times, but the film has never been made. Notably, just a few months ago, it was announced by Brad Pitt’s (!) production company that filming on a sequel–starring Keaton and Winona Ryder–would begin this year. Stay tuned.

But while you’re waiting, why not have a Beetlejuice cocktail? Here we go!

The recipe: Start with a glass of ice, and add 1 oz vodka, 1/2 oz Midori, 1/2 oz Chambord, 1/2 oz blue curacao, and 2 oz sweet and sour. Then carefully float 1.5 oz cranberry juice to the top.

The Ratings:

It looks great! Unnatural bright green color dominates, with blood red (from the cranberry juice) near the top. Three points for appearance.

The taste, however, is underwhelming. With such a mix of liqueurs, I would have expected a symphony of flavors. But the taste is flat and nondescript. My son Ian, who happened to be around for this experiment, says “It tastes like an Otter Pop.” My wife, who took a small sip, literally spit it out. I’m afraid this earns only 1 point for taste.

The name is a good one, but I don’t see how this green and red drink really evokes Beetlejuice the movie. (It actually looks like the color of Otter Pops!) As noted above, I suppose it might reference a smooshed beetle. So let’s give it 1 point for the name.

Grand Total: 5 points.

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Bonus: Here’s son Ian and daughter-in-law Katelyn enjoying beers at Epidemic Ales in Concord, CA. Note the spooky background. They argue that these are better Halloween-themed drinks than my Otter Pop drink.