Bend Sinister: Not on International Scotch Day
1 1/2 oz Ardbeg 10
1/2 oz Kirshwasser
1 oz Maurin Quina
3 dashes Berg & Hauck’s Jerry Thomas Bitters
1 rinse Leopold Bros. Absinthe
Rinse a chilled Coupe glass with absinthe and set aside. Stir remaining ingredients with ice and strain into the prepared Coupe glass. Garnish with a twist of Lemon and a Morello Cherry.
This particular February 10th is not International Scotch Day like it was 2 years ago on the first International Scotch Day. Apparently Diageo changed their minds from the 10th of February to the 8th last year, and I wasn’t paying attention. I could understand if they changed the date to keep it on a certain day of the week like Friday or something, but last year, when they changed it, the 8th was a Thursday. Whatever, my bad for not paying attention.
I found this rare cocktail that makes specific use of an Islay Whisky and Absinthe on Kindred Cocktails posted by the very prolific Drunklab (Rafa García Febles). It’s an odd combination of flavors, a hint of bittersweet cherry behind the dominating peat with just an herbal hint of Absinthe. Named, I’m assuming, after the book by Nabokov. Despite my love for old Dystopian novels, I’ve yet to read this one though it’s come across my radar a few times. The classics like Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Lathe Of Heaven, Brave New World, and, my favorite, This Perfect Day still ring with resonance today unlike many of the more modern ‘YA’ Dystopian series that all really amount to coming of age stories with mean adults in power forcing teenagers to do things they don’t want to do because, oppression and/or maybe random greed.
This is how you know I’m old: “Back in my day our Dystopian novels were used to explore social and political structures in a dark, nightmare world, often with cutting satire that reflected and exaggerated problems in our modern times to shed light on the direction our society was going, not tell stories of entitled little shits struggling with their hormones, whining about breaking free of their daddy issues!” (I may have to make a toon of this)
The state has been recently taken over and is being run by the tyrannical and philistine ‘Average Man’ party. Under the slogans of equality and happiness for all, it has done away with individualism and freedom of thought.
While it is filled with veiled puns and characteristically delightful wordplay, it is, first and foremost, a haunting and compelling narrative about a civilized man caught in the tyranny of a police state.
I’ve just moved Bend Sinister up in my reading cue to be my next book after I’m done with the not-quite-as-socially-relevant-but-fun-as-hell Screw The Galaxy: Hard Luck Hank Book 1.
If I would have actually did this on the right day I may have gone about a nice flight of Whiskys to see how well I could stage a series of different tastes in progression. Maybe I’ll try that for National Scotch Day in July if i don’t screw it up.
