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2025 Poe Cocktails · Uncategorized

Cocktail 14: The Masque of the Red Death

steveboilard3 Comments

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

The Tale

Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” was first published in 1842. In essence, it’s a tale about a self-seeking prince’s attempt to sequester himself and a large number of his friends and courtiers in his large castle, away from a fearsome plague that was rife throughout the land. You can guess how well that plan worked out.

The story works on a number of levels. On its face it’s a Gothic tale rich in imagery and Angst and, ultimately, doom. But it also works on an allegorical level, reminding us of the folly of trying to cheat Death. It’s been the subject of many films and plays over the years, most notably the 1964 Roger Corman movie starring Vincent Price. You could do worse than to spend an evening watching it with the lights down and with this cocktail in hand.

The full story is available here.

The Drink

Obviously, the drink has to be red. The “death” part is symbolized by a marshmallow garnish in the shape of a skull. OK, subtlety is not my strong suit.

The red color comes largely from pomegranate juice. I added some muddled blackberries (which darken the color a bit) and some mint (which prevents the drink from becoming too heavy). 

Ingredients:

1-½ oz. white rum

½ cup pomegranate juice (chilled)

A small handful of blackberries

A few mint leaves

For the skull:

1 regular marshmallow and one mini marshmallow

Black icing and/or black jelly beans

First you gotta make your skull. (That would make a good bumper sticker.) Use a standard, regulation marshmallow for this, and add eye sockets and a nose hole. Use your own instincts here. You can use either small, black jelly beans or icing for these.Then dab the top of a mini marshmallow with black icing, and stick it on the bottom of the regular marshmallow to serve as the jaw. Add a little icing where the two marshmallows meet to represent the mouth.

Set aside your skull (another bumper sticker candidate) and muddle the blackberries and mint leaves in a cocktail shaker. Add rum and chilled pomegranate juice. Shake it up. Then remove the top and pour the un-strained mixture into a wine glass. (I suppose you could strain it if you don’t want bits of blackberry and mint leaves in your drink, but I like the added texture.) Add the skull as a garnish, perhaps at the end of a straw, a cocktail pick, or a catheter…whatever you have around should work.

This drink is already pretty sweet, but you can add a little simple syrup if you don’t like the slight tartness of the pomegranate juice. You might want to affect a Prince Prospero pose, laughing carelessly at the latest disaster broadcast on the evening news as you throw a few of these back in your gated McMansion.

Poe-script

Despite the plot’s central reliance on the idea of a fatal plague called Red Death, there is no such disease. So, you can at least rest a little easier knowing that.

2025 Poe Cocktails · Uncategorized

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.

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Cocktail 1: The Raven

steveboilard3 Comments

“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

 Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

 Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

The Tale

“The Raven” is of course one of Poe’s most famous works. As we all know, it is an 18-stanza poem written in trochaic octameter. This poem has got it all: a tragic love story (“the lost Lenore”), references to Greek mythology (“bust of Pallas”), alliteration (“the silken, sad, uncertain rustling”), and a mystical talking raven (“Nevermore!”).  It’s hypnotizing, moody, mysterious, and yet lyrical. It is a masterpiece.

Therefore it’s not surprising that, after its publication in January 1845, Poe became famous throughout the land. And yet, he was only paid $9 by The American Review, which published the poem. Once upon a midnight dreary, indeed.

This poem is so well-known and euphonious that it has spurred innumerable parodies and burlesques. Lisa Simpson’s version on The Simpsons is especially worthy, and yet I will always remember when I was first introduced to “The Raven” in a Bullwinkle cartoon in the 1960s.

The full poem is available here.

The Drink

Probably all the “ravens” you and I think we’ve ever seen are actually crows. Ravens are bigger, with distinctive beaks and tails. But does it really matter? They’re both big, black birds. And that’s the look we’re going for with this drink.

So I got me some Van Gogh Double Espresso vodka. It’s a surprisingly tasty liquor on its own, particularly suited for those of us who like our depressants delivered with stimulants. This vodka has two things going for it: (1) it has a dark color, evocative of a raven (or a crow). To be honest, it’s not quite black; rather, it’s a dark brown. But we have a black cat (Vincent) who, as he’s aged, has taken on a somewhat brown cast. So maybe dark brown in the ballpark of black? (2) It’s said that Van Gogh was an avid and enthusiastic reader of Poe. It’s further said that his “intensive reading of Poe’s works helped him to process and internalize his thoughts and emotions, which then manifested in his art.” I take all this as confirmation that the Van Gogh vodka would make a great starting point for this drink. Let’s get to work!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 oz. Van Gogh Double Espresso vodka

½ oz. Kahlua

¼ oz. mezcal (the smokier the better)

1 shot espresso

A couple of pinches of edible black glitter

Black feather (for garnish)

The bottle of Van Gogh already has a syrupy sweetness to it, even though it’s marketed as a vodka. So, this will have to be counterbalanced with something to keep it out of the land of the cloying. For this, I added a shot of straight espresso for its bitterness and roastiness, and a little bit of mezcal for its earthy, smoky flavor. Truth be told, I found this formulation to be a bit too harsh, so I then added a little Kahlua to take the edge off. This seems to be the sweet spot.

So far, the drink presents a dark brown color. But to make it more raven-y, I added two pinches of edible black glitter. This gives it a deeper black color and that shimmery, sparkly gloss that ravens are so well known for. Not.

But as if that doesn’t drive home the point strongly enough, we’re going to add a black feather–a “black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken.” Simply proceed thus:

  1. Remove a single black feather from a nearby raven (or, in a pinch, a crow will do). Alternatively, you can go to your nearest craft store. Place this feather point-down in a small glass with about an inch of water, and stick it in the freezer. You may need to use some tape to keep the feather upright. This is going to serve as your ice cube/garnish.
  2. Make yourself a shot of espresso, and put it in the fridge to cool for a few minutes.
  3. In a mixing glass, combine the vodka, Kahlua, mezcal, and espresso with ice. Stir, and strain into a bar glass of your choice.
  4. Add a few pinches of the black glitter, and stir.
  5. Finish it off by adding the ice cube/feather. (You may have to briefly warm it in the microwave to loosen the ice from the glass.)
  6. Will you ever go back to your old Dark N Stormy? Nevermore!

Poe-Script

It is said that Poe gained inspiration for this poem from Dickens’ Barnaby Rudge, which featured a talking raven. The non-Philistines among you who regularly read my blog (waytrips.travel.blog) know that Dickens himself had a pet raven named ‘Grip.” In fact, Grip became such a part of the public imagination in Dickens’ day that people would say “Get a Grip!” to convey that someone should ground themselves in reality, rather than stories.

(I totally fabricated that last assertion.)

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Mike the Headless Chicken

steveboilard3 Comments

The other week I shared a blog post about the town of Fruita, Colorado–a town that is “famous” for, among other things, its Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. Faithful reader Brian W informed me that his brother-in-law Timothy has written and performed a song about Mike at the festival. (How come my relatives don’t have credits like that to their name?) In the 1980s Timothy made records as Timothy P and the Rural Route Three, whose music has been described as “a blend of country, honky-tonk, and hippie rock styles.” A Facebook page suggests he’s still in the business. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find an actual recording of his Headless Chicken song.

Photo supplied by Brian W.

This got me interested in discovering what kind of a song one could write about this Headless Chicken. And I discovered that it’s a somewhat popular subgenre on YouTube. Here are a few examples for your entertainment and/or edification:

Best visuals, but lousy music (IMO).

Best (i.e. only) live performance I could find.

Best lyrics and production values…but no video.

Feel free to write and record your own Mike the Headless Chicken song, and I’ll post it on this blog. Meanwhile, if you need inspiration, the following “children’s cartoon” about the story of Headless Mike is simultaneously informative and unsettling: