Drink Pairings

Episode 001: Holy Adverbs, Batman!

Too Many Adverbs:
  • 1.5 oz Gin
  • ½ oz Elderflower
  • ½ oz Lime
  • ¾ oz Lemon
  • ¾ oz simple syrup
  • Splash of Seltzer

Shake all except seltzer in a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour into a highball glass over ice and top with seltzer.

The above drink tastes fine, but you could get a similar, stronger flavor by paring down a few ingredients and choosing stronger ones:

Adverbs Revised:
  • 2.5oz gin
  • 1.5oz lemon
  • 1 oz honey syrup 
    (This adds more flavor than simple syrup and some light floral notes in one ingredient, so it replaces the elderflower and the simple syrup)
  • Top with Club Soda 
    (This has a little more character than seltzer, so is also like using a stronger word)

Shake all except seltzer in a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour into a highball glass over ice and top with seltzer.

Episode 002: Ye Olde Show vs. Tell

Writer’s Tears Old-Fashioned
  • 2.5oz whiskey
  • 1.5 tsp brown sugar simple syrup
  • Dash angostura bitters
  • Orange peel
  • Luxardo cherry (for garnish)
  1. Mix syrup and bitters well in a rocks glass
  2. Add a large ice cube
  3. Add whiskey
  4. Stir well
  5. Spritz an orange peel over the top and drop peel into glass 
  6. Garnish with a luxardo cherry

Episode 003: Setting a Scene

Faerie Debauchery:

For Drink: 

  • 1 oz vodka
  • 2 oz chocolate liqueur
  • ¾ oz caramel syrup (the clear-ish kind you get for coffee, like Torani)
  • 1.5 oz milk
  • Hershey’s dark chocolate syrup (optional for garnish)
  • If not making salt foam, you’ll need a table salt/smoked salt mix for rim
    (depending on how strong your smoked salt is, cut it with table salt until it tastes good to your palate)

For salt foam (optional):

Mix all in blender until it forms a foam (an immersion blender is better, but will work in a regular blender or Magic-Bullet type machine too)

  1. Stir together vodka, chocolate liqueur, caramel syrup, and milk in a mixing glass with ice and stir well
  2. If not using the salt foam, rim a coupe or martini glass with the smoked salt/table salt mix.
  3. Strain the mixing glass into coupe glass (only straining to remove the ice).
  4. If using foam, top with the salt foam.
Ice and Vines:
  • 2 oz UV blue vodka
  • 1.5 oz simple syrup
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • 6-8 mint leaves
  • 1-1.5 cup of ice (to preference depending on how thick you want your drink)
  • Granulated sugar (for rim)
  • Mint sprig (optional for garnish)
  1. Muddle mint and simple syrup together, strain through a fine strainer to remove leaves and add the strained syrup to the blender. Discard leaves.
  2. Add vodka, lime, and ice to blender, blend well.
  3. Rim a glass with granulated sugar and pour into the glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.
    (Drink pictured was topped with cream to represent snow).

Episode 004: Critique Partners

Drink recipe: Boozy PSL

Since we met most of our Critique Partners through NaNoWriMo-related events, which is in November, we’ve made a fall-themed cocktail in summer… an iced Pumpkin Spice Latte.

  • 1.5 oz spiced rum
  • 1.5 oz coffee liqueur 
  • 2.5 oz pumpkin spice syrup/puree
    • 1 c sugar
    • 1 c water
    • 1 c canned pumpkin puree (not the kind with spices, just pure pumpkin)
    • ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
      • Heat all in saucepan until it blends together, let cool, strain to remove any bigger pumpkin pieces. Bottle and keep in refrigerator.
  • 3 oz milk
  • Whipped cream
  • Nutmeg (freshly grated for garnish)
  1. Pour all except whipped cream over ice in highball or rocks glass
  2. Stir well
  3. Top with whipped cream
  4. Grate a little nutmeg on top

Episode 005:
Was-ing the Was-es Part 1

Drink pairing: Hard Seltzer

Since passive voice can weaken your writing, we chose a “weak” drink for this week’s episode.

Episode 006:
Was-ing the Was-es Part 2

Since we’re bringing your work back from the dead in this episode about removing the word “was” and replacing it with something more interesting, we’ve made a deliciously undead drink: The Zombie.

This is a well-known tiki drink with a lot of variations, so I’ve borrowed a recipe from renowned cocktail expert Dale DeGroff.

Drink Recipe: The Zombie
(Recipe by Dale DeGroff)
  • 1 oz light rum
  • 1 oz dark rum
  • 1 oz orange curaçao liqueur
  • 1-½ oz passion fruit purée
  • 1-½ oz orange juice
  • ½ oz lemon juice
  • ½ oz lime juice
  • ¼ oz grenadine
  • 2 dashes aromatic bitters
  • Cocktail umbrella and/or various fruits for garnish
  1. Shake all in cocktail shaker with ice
  2. Pour into a tall glass filled with ice
  3. Garnish with fresh fruit, pineapple leaves, and/or a tiki umbrella

Episode 007: Dos and Don’ts of First Present

This week, DC and Avery selected drinks that reflected our individual excerpts.

Matcha Elderflower Last Word
  • ¾ ounce gin
  • ¾ ounce green chartreuse Liqueur
  • ¾ ounce ​maraschino liqueur
  • ¼ ounce elderflower liqueur
  • ¾ ounce lime juice
  • 1 tsp matcha powder
  1. Mix all in a shaker with ice
  2. Shake well
  3. Strain into a coupe glass or Nick and Nora glass
Greatest CEO In The World
  • 1½  ounce Lagavulin 16 Year Scotch
  • 1½ ounce Avery’s Magical Maple Cherry w/ Cinnamon shrubs
  • 1 sugar cube
  • 1 peel of lemon
  • 3 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1 wedge of orange
  • 1 splash club soda
  1. Drip 3 dashes of Angostura bitters on a sugar cube, in a glass
  2. Put a thin wedge of orange, a lemon peel, and a maraschino cherry in the bottom of glass, and muddle the fruit.
  3. Pour Lagavulin on muddled fruit.
  4. Pour in Cherry shrubs.
  5. Put a handful of ice in a whiskey glass, stir, and finish with a dash of club soda.

Maple-Cherry Shrub Recipe:

  • 1½ cups dark sweet cherries (frozen ok)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅔ cup red wine vinegar
  1. Mix cherries, cinnamon, maple syrup, and sugar in a glass bowl or tupperware container and cover. Leave in refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days, checking and stirring once a day, until the sugar has pulled the juice from the cherries and there’s a good amount of liquid.
  2. Strain juice through a mesh strainer and remove cherries. (These can be pureed into a jam for toast and will last at least a few days in the fridge, if you’d like to save them.)
  3. Add vinegar to the juice and stir well. There may still be some stray sugar granules at this stage, but these will dissolve eventually.
  4. Pour into a sterilized glass bottle or jar and refrigerate. Will keep for 3-4 months if refrigerated. The flavor will change slightly for about the first week, but then will stabilize.

Episode 008: Passion vs Obligation

A little bitter, a little sweet, this classic combination of dry stout and hard cider is a delicious beverage.

Snakebite
  • 5oz hard cider
  • 5oz Guinness or similar dry Irish stout
  1. Pour cider into a pint glass
  2. Layer stout on top using the back of a spoon

Episode 009: Short Fiction

Boozy Strawberry Shortcake

For “short” fiction, try this refreshing strawberry smoothie!

  • 3oz cake or donut vodka
  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • 4oz milk or plant milk of choice
  • (optional) whipped cream for topping
  1. Combine strawberries (still frozen), vodka, and milk in a blender
  2. Blend until smooth
  3. Optional: top with whipped cream

Crystal’s drink: Petit Verdot white wine

Episode 010: Pitch, Please

Pitch-Black, Short & Sweet
  • 2.5oz Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur
  • 1oz Dark Rum (not spiced)
  • 1oz Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Syrup
  • Optional: black sugar for rim
  • Optional: Luxardo cherry for garnish
  1. (Optional: rim martini or coupe glass with black sugar)
  2. Combine Mr Black, rum, and chocolate syrup in a shaker with ice, shake very well.
  3. Strain into glass, garnish with a Luxardo cherry on a cocktail pick.