Category: 2025 Poe Cocktails

2025 Poe Cocktails

Cocktail 13: William Wilson

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The feeling of vexation thus engendered grew stronger with every circumstance tending to show resemblance, moral or physical, between my rival and myself. I had not then discovered the remarkable fact that we were of the same age; but I saw that we were of the same height, and I perceived that we were even singularly alike in general contour of person and outline of feature.

The Tale

William Wilson is a classic doppelganger story. The narrator encounters his look-alike in school, and this mysterious figure repeatedly shows up to sabotage the author’s many schemes. The doppelganger exhibits slight variations from the narrator (including a voice which is only a whisper), but in general bears an uncanny physical resemblance. In the end the narrator kills his doppelganger, whose final words ring thus: “You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead — dead to the World, to Heaven and to Hope! In me didst thou exist — and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.” Is it just me, or does this strike you also as a cross between Shakespeare and Star Trek?

The full story is available here.

The Drink

One of the great philosophical questions that everyone eventually faces is: Should I make my Old Fashioned with bourbon or rye? Thankfully, Poe’s William Wilson gives us a way to avoid that agonizing dilemma and have it both ways. Like the two William Wilsons in a classroom, this drink takes two slightly-different versions of a whiskey cocktail and combines them with satisfying results. The spicy rye and sweet bourbon play off each other nicely. The rich brown sugar draws out the bourbon while the plebian white sugar softens the rye. Meanwhile, the two bitters add interest and complexity. The two different cherries are mainly for show, but if you’re smart you’ll finish off your drink with a one-two punch that underscores the source material.

Ingredients:

1 generous shot of rye

1 generous shot of bourbon

1 white sugar cube

1 brown sugar cube

1  teaspoon water

2 dashes of Angostura bitters

2 dashes of orange bitters

1 maraschino cherry (as garnish)

1 amarina cherry (as garnish)

Place both sugar cubes in a rocks glass along with the water and bitters. Muddle until the sugar is dissolved. Now add ice and both whiskeys. Stir for about 30 seconds. Add the two cherries on separate cocktail picks. Drink it while wearing your embroidered morning wrapper.

Poe-Script

This tale is told in Poe’s inimical style, but the general thrust of the story has flowed from many pens. I think in particular of Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, which was published a half-century after “William Wilson.” As with Poe’s tale, Wilde’s has the protagonist murder himself in an effort to destroy his doppelganger. Please don’t try this at home.

2025 Poe Cocktails

Cocktail 12: The Gold-Bug

steveboilard3 Comments

I presume the fancy of the skull, of letting fall a bullet through the skull’s eye–was suggested to Kidd by the piratical flag. No doubt he felt a kind of poetical consistency in recovering his money through this ominous insignium.

The Tale

First published in 1843, “The Gold-Bug” is one of Poe’s more intricate tales. It involves a buried treasure, a pirate map, a cryptogram, a mysterious scarab beetle, and a human skull. It reads like a cross between Treasure Island and an armchair mystery. Some say that it belongs alongside Poe’s “Dupin” detective stories. 

The story goes thus: the narrator visits a friend who has discovered an unusual type of beetle. Through a convoluted plot device, the beetle leads to a pirate treasure map printed in disappearing ink and coded into a cipher. Much of the story involves decoding the cipher, climbing a tree, dropping the beetle through a skull’s eye socket, and pacing off steps according to the map. Ultimately a pirate’s treasure chest is discovered. Apparently the reading public at the time was ga-ga over cryptography and so-called “secret writing.” In fact, it’s said that Poe helped popularize those themes. In any event, there is something very Holmesian about this story.

The full story is available here.

The Drink

It doesn’t take a C. Auguste Dupin to realize that a cocktail evoking this story should somehow be connected to gold. At first I considered the Golden Cadillac, which was invented just down the road from me at Poor Red’s BBQ over 70 years ago. But I was out of Galliano, and instead, two different gold-themed ingredients stared back at me coquettishly from my liquor cabinet: (1) Cuervo Gold tequila, which has a light gold color, and (2) Goldschlager, which contains flakes of genuine 24-karat gold. (I’m not making this up). In creating the recipe, I made a King-Solomon decision and included both spirits.

Ingredients:

1 oz. Cuervo Gold tequila

1 oz. Goldschlager liqueur

This is presented as a shooter, but how you drink it is up to you. Combine the ingredients in a tall shot glass or (as I did) in a stolen port glass. Let the gold settle at the bottom, representing the buried treasure in Poe’s tale. If you’re making one for a guest, present it with a “yo-ho-ho.”

This is a visually appealing and Poe-evocative drink that packs a punch. But I wouldn’t say it’s especially delicious. Goldschlager is essentially cinnamon Schnapps, which may or may not bring back horrible memories from high school. Still, the cloying taste of the Goldschlager is somewhat attenuated by the tequila, resulting in a tolerable, warming drink that can be shot (to get it over with) or sipped by the fireplace as you labor over a cryptogram. I opted for the latter.

Poe-script

Poe received a $100 prize for the story, which is the most he ever received for any single piece of writing. What’s more,  It has been estimated that “The Gold-Bug” was the most widely-read of Poe’s works during his lifetime, during which it was translated into French and Russian. Robert Louis Stevenson has acknowledged the story’s influence on his 1883 adventure novel, Treasure Island.  Over the years, “The Gold-Bug” has been made into a stage play, movies, TV specials, a radio play, and a comic (?) opera.

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Cocktail 11: Ligeia

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Yet, although I saw that the features of Ligeia were not of classic regularity — although I perceived that her loveliness was indeed “exquisite,” and felt that there was much of “strangeness” pervading it, yet I have tried in vain to detect the irregularity and to trace home my own perception of “the strange.” I examined the contour of the lofty and pale forehead — it was faultless — how cold indeed that word when applied to a majesty so divine! — the skin rivalling the purest ivory, the commanding extent and repose, the gentle prominence of the regions above the temples; and then the raven-black, the glossy, the luxuriant and naturally-curling tresses, setting forth the full force of the Homeric epithet, “hyacinthine!”

The Tale

In the first half of this story the narrator meticulously describes his wife Ligeia with soaring, worshipful, effusive and poetic language that would make King Solomon blush. In extreme detail he sketches the features of her face, her hair, her forehead, her stature, even her voice in the most grandiloquent language. And anticipating the rules of political correctness by two centuries, he hastens to add that she’s not just hot; she’s also smart, with greater knowledge of “moral, physical, and mathematical science” than anyone he knew, man or woman. And then he describes how she died, and how he was devastated by the loss. 

Somewhat less effusive is his description of his rebound squeeze, Lady Rowena Trevanion. In many ways Rowena is the opposite of her predecessor: fair where Ligeia was dark-haired, blue-eyed in contrast to the “brilliant black” of Ligeia’s peepers.

And instead of lavish praise, the narrator confides that he “loathed [Lady Rowena] with a hatred belonging more to demon than to man.” Then she too falls ill and is declared dead. And yet, while lying on her death bed, she repeatedly fights off Death, each time briefly returning to life, until at last she rises from the bed. Her shroud falls away and in appearance she is…Ligeia. The narrator doesn’t seem too excited about this.

The full story is here.

The Drink

For this cocktail we’re going to tap into that long, flowery description of Ligeia, with the “Homeric epithet” of “hyacinthine.” `It seems he associates her with the fragrant, colorful flower that evokes spring and rebirth.

Now, there is a class of Hyacinth cocktails which make use of either hyacinth flowers or of fruits and botanicals that impart a similar blue color. I couldn’t find hyacinth flowers this time of year, so I instead went with a mix of violet and elderflower liqueurs, combined with a highly-botanical gin. Now, if you stubbornly opt for actual hyacinth, make sure you use grape hyacinth, as the other variants are toxic and could make you into the latest meal for the Conqueror Worm. I played it safe and went a different, flowery route. The resulting recipe creates a light, floral drink that will have you “aroused” by Ligeia’s “large and luminous orbs.” (Those are Poe’s words, not mine!)

Ingredients:

1 oz gin

1 oz violet liqueur

½ oz Elderflower liqueur

Splash of lime juice

Sprig of mint (as garnish)

Combine all the liquid ingredients in a shaker and shake well. Add ice and shake some more. Strain into a champagne flute or some other glass that’s as graceful and slender as Ligeia. Garnish with mint, which, at least in my garden, keeps returning even though I thought it had died many times over.

Poe-Script

Within this tale, Ligeia composes a poem which you will recognize as “The Conqueror Worm.” In fact, the short story “Ligeia” was originally published without the poem in 1838, then Poe published “The Conqueror Worm” as a stand-alone poem in 1843, and then he revised “Ligeia” to include the poem in 1845. Kind of like how I’m going to re-use this blog post as an entry in my Poe cocktail book.

2025 Poe Cocktails

Cocktail 10: The Black Cat

steveboilard4 Comments

One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about [the cat’s] neck and hung it to the limb of a tree;—hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart;—hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence;—hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin—a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it—if such a thing were possible—even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

The Tail (as it were)

The Black Cat is a horrible story. I say this as an animal lover, and in particular a cat lover. The narrator is unsympathetic, reprehensible, hateful. In the end, he gets only a portion of the comeuppance that he deserves. Perhaps the same could be said for all of us…

Still, it’s a spellbinding tale, with an air of Doom hanging over it, as well as murders, subterranean crypts, and madness. It even offers a bit of a moral, to wit: If you’re going to wall up a body, check for strays before mortaring in that final brick.

The fact that the narrator suffers from alcoholism makes it a bit awkward to base a drink on the story. And yet, no collection based on Poe’s tales can ignore this masterful narrative.

The full story is available here.

The Drink

It goes without saying that this drink must be black in color. I started with Kahlua and coffee, which I further darkened with activated, food-grade charcoal. A bit of absinthe adds an unexpected anise element (and supposedly absinthe was one of Poe’s vices). Meanwhile, a Kit-Kat bar emphasizes the cat theme. (Readers of a certain age might recall the Kit-Kat commercials in the 1970s, featuring a lion as the cat. It was even less funny than it sounds here. And, sadly, the Kit-Kat bar is even less delicious in this drink than you might hope. Still, we persevere.)

Ingredients:

1-½ oz. Kahlua

1-½ oz. espresso (chilled)

¼ oz. absinthe (to rinse the glass)

1 activated charcoal capsule

1 Kit-Kat bar (crumbled)

Rinse a coupe glass with absinthe. Note that a little absinthe goes a long way; this is only a rinse. Now, pour the Kahlua, espresso, and charcoal into a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake to chill. Strain into the prepared coupe glass, and top with the crumbled Kit-Kat bar.

This is not a drink for everyone. You have to like strong flavors. The espresso and Kahlua go together pretty well, though the taste is quite intense. The addition of the absinthe adds an unusual twist, which may not be to every person’s taste. The Kit-Kat bar serves as a sweet, chunky chaser that helps you to forget about the odd drink you just downed.

Poe-script

Universal Pictures made not one but two films with Bela Lugosi called The Black Cat. The 1934 film co-stars Boris Karloff, while the 1941 version costars Basil Rathbone. Both movies claim to be “suggested by” Poe’s story, but neither one really has anything to do with Edgar’s masterpiece.

2025 Poe Cocktails

Cocktail 9: King Pest

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The room within which they found themselves, proved to be the shop of an undertaker — but an open trap-door in a corner of the floor near the entrance, looked down upon a long range of wine-cellars, whose depths the occasional sounds of bursting bottles proclaimed to be well stored with their appropriate contents. In the middle of the room stood a table — in the centre of which again arose a huge tub of what appeared to be punch. Bottles of various wines and cordials, together with grotesque jugs, pitchers, and flagons of every shape and quality, were scattered profusely upon the board. Around it, upon coffin-tressels, was seated a company of six….

The Tale

The story is a fairly simple one; two drunken sailors flee from a tavern without settling their bill and are chased through the streets of London by the proprietor. They escape into a deserted part of town that has been closed off because it’s Plague-ridden. They run into an old undertaker’s shop where they encounter a party of four men and two women drinking at a bottle-littered table, surrounded by skeletons and coffins and other funereal artifacts. The leader of the group (who calls himself “King Pest the First”) is annoyed by the interruption and as punishment orders the two sailors to drink “a gallon of Black Strap…at a single draught — and upon your bended knees.” The two instead create a diversion and manage to escape, each carrying off one of the women from the group.

This has got to be one of Poe’s most grotesque tales. (See the Poe-Script below for a bit more on this point.) The characters are all grossly exaggerated, the settings are cluttered and wild and baroque, the action is overplayed, the dialogue is florid. Oh, and the whole thing plays out as a farce or perhaps even a comedy, depending on your disposition, I suppose.

The full story is available here.

The Drink

We, being of a more serious temperament, are going to zero in on that “blackstrap” that the sailors were sentenced to drink. This would be blackstrap rum, which is unusually dark and is made with molasses. (I procured a bottle of Cruzan Estate Diamond Black Strap Rum for this project.) With the addition of some espresso, a liqueur, and a few drops of tabasco (trust me on this one), you’ll have some proper “humming-stuff” (as the story’s main characters call it).

Ingredients:

1 gallon Blackstrap rum (or, if you don’t want to be that vérité, just use two ounces)

1 shot espresso

1⁄2 oz crème de cacao

A few drops of tabasco sauce

Stir all the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice. Strain into an iced skull cup (which is the vessel of choice used by the characters of the story). Garnish with something interesting if you like, but I demurred because didn’t want to distract from the imagery of the skull.

This cocktail isn’t for everyone, and when you take your initial sip your taste buds will become disoriented and perhaps threaten to kill you. But once they get re-oriented, you’ll find that this is actually a fairly balanced and interesting drink. The molasses flavor dominates, offset a bit by the bitter and astringent espresso and the spicy Tabasco. The creme de cacao softens the palate; it’s kind of a peace offering to your tongue. In the course of taking a sip, you’ll experience a range of emotions, from “why on earth did I make this drink” to “actually, I think I’ll have another.” Which is precisely what I did.

Poe-Script

Although King Pest was first published in 1835 in The Southern Literary Messenger, five years later it was included in a collection of Poe’s stories called Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. The story “King Pest” presumably is described by the first of the two adjectives.