A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! by Leslie Dinaberg 

With Oscar’s big night coming up soon (March 4), Cocktail Chameleon author and entertainment expert Mark Addison has created a slate of lovely libations that are perfect to serve at your Academy Awards viewing party next weekend. The book—which takes a dozen classic cocktails and creates a dozen different variations for each one of them—was recently named the “Best in the U.S.” by the Gourmand Cookbook Awards and chosen one of the top six in the world to compete for the global title in  May 2018.

No matter what your favorite film of the year was, here’s a celebratory recipe just for you.

And the nominees are:

• Darkest Hour: The Churchill
• Call Me By Your Name:­ Apricot Negroni Spritzer
• The Shape of Water: Swamp Fizz
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Three Cocktails from Inside Missouri
  • Missouri Mule
  • Missouri Manhattan (aka Moonshine Manhattan)
  • Missouri Martini
• Dunkirk: Dunkirk Toddy
• Phantom Thread: Dark Love
• The Post: Black & White and Read All Over
• Get Out: The Sunken Place
• Lady Bird: Kiwi Punch (aka Flightless Bird)

The Churchill Champagne Cocktail is a variation of a Manhattan-style cocktail created for Winston Churchill in the 1940’s at the Savoy hotel in London. This version features his beloved Scotch whisky and champagne, which he reportedly drank most every day from noon to night.

Film: Darkest Hour

The Churchill

(variation on the Champagne Cocktail)

1 oz. Scotch whisky (Churchill preferred Johnnie Walker)

1/2 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. sweet vermouth

1/2 oz. Cointreau

2 oz. champagne

Garnish: lemon peel

Glassware: 8 oz. Tiffany & Co. Vintage Coupe Glass (7” h)

Shake ingredients together with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe and top with chilled champagne. Garnish with the lemon peel.

Film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

“The themes in Three Billboards… are dark and horrific, which is challenging to draw inspiration from for a festive Oscar cocktail…,” says Addison, who instead chose to draw inspiration from the title and the film’s location. “Three Cocktails…” features Missouri-based spirits incorporated into classic cocktails with a distinctively Ozark ingredients and themes.

Three Cocktails from inside Missouri

Missouri Mule

1 1/2 oz. Missouri Sprits Bourbon Whiskey

3/4 oz. lemon juice

1/2 oz. Campari

1/2 oz. Triple Sec

Garnish: lemon wheel

Glassware: 16 oz. Christofle Highball Glass (6” h)

Combine with ice, shake and pour into a highball glass. Garnish with lemon wheel.

Missouri Manhattan

2 oz. Missouri Sprits Corn Whiskey

1/2 oz. Sweet Vermouth

1/2 oz. Agave Nectar

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Garnish: maraschino cherry, one king ice cube

Glassware: 8 oz. Christofle Old Fashion (3” h)

In a mixing glass with ice, combine the ingredients and stir well. Strain over a king cube in an old fashion glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Missouri Martini

2 oz. Missouri Sprits Vodka

1/4-oz. extra dry vermouth

1/4-oz. pickle juice

1 dash of hot sauce

Garnish: dill pickle spear

Glassware: 8 oz. Christofle Martini Glass (6 1/2” h)

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain contents into chilled martini glass and garnish with pickle.

Film: Call me by Your Name

The iconic Italian Negroni is updated with apricot liqueur and French dry vermouth inspired the film’s Italian location, the apricot orchards surrounding family’s Italian countryside villa and the French heritage of romantic lead character, Elio. Addison notes, “No peaches were harmed in the making of this cocktail… (too soon?).”

Apricot Negroni Spritzer

1 1/4 oz. gin

1 1/4 oz.

French dry vermouth

3/4 oz. Aperol

1/4 oz. apricot liqueur

3 dashes of orange bitters

Garnish: orange peel & apricot wedge

Glassware: 16 oz. Chateau Baccarat Tumbler (3 1/2″ h)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and slowly stir to chill. Pour into a tumbler and garnish with a peach slice and a cherry.

Film: Shape of Water

Fizz cocktails were at their height of popularity in the 50’s and 60’s during which the Shape of Water is set. The Swamp Fizz combines green Crème De Menthe (also immensely popular in the era), citrus, sugar and club soda in classic fizz proportions with egg whites for added fizz and accentuates the Creatures’ favorite food, eggs!

Swamp Fizz

2 oz. gin

1 Tsp. Green Crème De Menthe

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 egg white

1 Tsp. Superfine Sugar

Club Soda

Garnish: lime zest

Glassware: 16 oz. Tiffany & Co. Vintage Highball Glass (5 1/2″ h)

Add gin, crème de menthe, lemon juice, sugar and egg white to your shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into Collins glass over ice and top with club soda. Garnish with lime zest.

Film: Dunkirk

Inspired by struggle of evacuate the Allied soldiers from the beaches of France under attack by German forces, the Dunkirk Toddy blends a classic English hot beverage with French cognac and Benedictine, resulting in a Franco-British hot cocktail that any of the 300,000 soldiers rescued in the operation would appreciate.

Dunkirk Toddy

The traditional Hot Toddy recipe is made with whisky but to give the classic Toddy a French twist Addison substitutes equal parts French cognac and Benedictine Dom with its lovely warming flavors and its pronounced herbal and spicy tones.

1 oz. Benedictine Dom

1 oz. French cognac

1 dash Angostura bitters

4 cloves

1 lemon peel

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz. honey

Top with hot water

Garnish: one cinnamon stick

Glassware: 8 oz. Bormioli Rocco Oslo Coffee Cup (3 3/4″ h)

Fix the cloves into the wedge of lemon and put into a glass mug. Add

all the other ingredients and top with hot water. Stir gently

and serve.

Film: Phantom Thread

Dark Love is a champagne cocktail that embodies the volatile love affair between 50’s fashion couturier and a young waitress. Parfait Amour (or Perfect Love) is a French violet liqueur, which when combined with blue curacao takes on a blackish tone. The blend of the eau de vie (water of life), Parfait amour and champagne creates a sweet rich libation that is impossible to resist… submit to this Dark Love.

Dark Love

(variation on Perfect Love from Cocktail Chameleon)

1 oz. Parfait Amour (violet liqueur)

1/2 oz. eau de vie Poire (pear brandy)

1/2 oz. blue curacao

5 oz. Champagne, chilled

Garnish: orchid flower

Glassware: 8 oz. Chateau Baccarat Flute (9 1/2″ h)

Fill the shaker with ice, then add the Parfait Amour, brandy and liqueur, shaking until well chilled.

Film: The Post

“What’s black, white and red all over…? The most infamous newspaper, The Washington Post,” says Addison. Known for exposing the Watergate scandal and Pentagon Papers, the latest film The Post (and this cocktail) draw allusions to the then and current presidencies. Black, White, and Read All Over looks like an all American coffee but a white Russian lurks under the surface and is stained by a red cherry syrup.

Black & White and Read All Over

2 oz. cold-press coffee

1 oz. vodka

1 oz. coffee liqueur

1 oz. orange liqueur

1 oz. half & half
Garnish: 1/2 oz. maraschino cherry juice

Glassware: 8 oz. Libbey Irish Coffee Mug (5 3/4″ h)

Fill the shaker with ice and add the coffee, vodka and liqueurs, shaking until well chilled.  Pour into the glass and float the half & half on top by slowly pouring it over the back of the spoon followed by the cherry juice.

Film: Get Out

The character of Chris agrees to be hypnotized by his girlfriend’s mother to cure his smoking addiction but instead, sinks into the “sunken place” where after an operation to transplant the mind of a white man into his body, Chris would remain in the void watching powerlessly. The Sunken Place cocktail looks innocuous on the surface but has a dark underside trapped beneath.

The Sunken Place

2 oz. rum

1 oz. coconut rum

2 oz. pineapple juice

1 oz. cream of coconut

Garnish:

½ oz. blue curacao

½ oz. grenadine

Glassware: 12 oz. Mikasa Cheers Martini Glass (7 1/2″ h)

Combine rums, pineapple juice and cream of coconut in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into chilled martini glass. Combine the blue curacao and grenadine and slowly drizzle down the side of the glass. It will settle at the bottom and create a beautiful “black and white” layered look.

Film: Lady Bird

The Kiwi Punch represents the struggle of Lady Bird (aka Christine) who desperately wants to fly-off to an out-of-state college but feels grounded by her over protective and critical mother. A Kiwi is a flightless bird native of New Zealand as well as a fruit also from New Zealand. Kiwifruit give this punch it’s fruity punch and is served in a soda glass making it look unassuming while packing another punch of vodka. *simply omit the vodka for a non-alcoholic version sans the punch!

Kiwi Punch (aka Flightless Bird) – Serves 8

2 cups kiwi, peeled and diced
12 mint leaves
2 tablespoons sugar
3 limes, juiced
2 cups vodka
2 cups tonic water
ice cubes
1 kiwi, thinly sliced for garnish

Garnish: Star fruit slice, mint sprigs

Glassware: 16 oz. Riedel Coca Cola Glass (6 1/2″ h)

In a pitcher, combine diced kiwis, mint leaves, sugar, and ½ lime juiced. Muddle the contents until fully combined. Fill the pitcher with ice and top off with vodka and tonic water. Stir, pour into eight tumbler glasses over ice making sure each glass receives equal amounts of kiwi and mint leaves. Garnish with a star fruit slice and mint sprig.

Addison’s mantra—which I’m a big fan of—is “It’s called entertaining for a reason; you’ve got to have fun while you do it.” So have fun … and let us know about it (or better yet, invite us)!

Cheers! Click here for more cocktail corner columns.