Last November I received a delightful and thought-provoking email from a reader (thanks again for writing, Paul!) who had a question about one of my old blogposts, “7 Things to do When Reading a Ghost or Horror Story.” The seventh and final tip was to create an inspiring atmosphere – what Ambrose Bierce called “the suitable surroundings” – and among the examples I provided was enjoying a stimulating beverage that might have a thematic connection to the writer or work, parenthetically adding: “port for James, sherry for Dickens, Scotch for Stevenson, Claret for Stoker, coffee for Bierce, Earl Grey for Lovecraft, and green tea for Le Fanu – but not too much.”
My correspondent liked the idea but wondered about the connections: a couple made sense, but most were obscure and he was curious how I decided which beverage suited which author. This led us to throwing out more ideas for other classic horror writers whom I hadn’t listed, or coming up with alternative pairings or enhancements for the ones I had so flippantly thrown out there.
It raised a fun and intriguing idea: what drink would pair best with the classic horrors whom we study on this site? Which spirit or wine matches their personality or fiction best, and – if a spirit – what kind of cocktail might pair well with their work?
Obviously, dozens of possibilities existed, and I’m not suggesting that the following list is remotely definitive, but over the Christmas holiday I came up with recommendations for some of our best-loved authors. So, the next time you have a laid-back evening and want to match one of our luminaries with a libation, we invite you to consult the following alphabetical guide to macabre mixology.
_________________________________________
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: TENNESSEE WHISKEY
RATIONALE: Of course, “Bitter Bierce” should have a bitter drink – and what better than the same thick, oily campfire coffee that he and his fellow soldiers found so much pleasure in (especially when tobacco was rare and food rations were practically inedible).
But beneath his bitter cynicism was always lurking the passionate fire of righteous indignation, so slip a gill of fiery whiskey into your mug – preferably the peppery, Tennessee whiskey native to the state where he saw horrendous action at Shiloh, Chickamauga, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Franklin.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: TENNESSEE COFFEE.
4 oz. strong, dark-roast stovetop coffee, 2 oz. Jack Daniels Strait Rye Whiskey, 1 tsp. brown sugar, 1 oz. heavy whipping cream. Pour whiskey into a mug, cover with coffee, stir in brown sugar and cream
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: CANADIAN WHISKEY
RATIONALE: Best remembered for his mystical horror – frequently set in the wilderness of Canada, the Alps, the Danube River, North Africa, or Scandinavia – Blackwood’s often stream-of-consciousness prose is best consumed with a receptive mind loosened up by a stiff, warming cocktail.
We recommend Canada’s classic mixed drink, caribou, which – like Blackwood – is simultaneously, deceptively warm and sharp, coaxing you into obeying its beckoning call (like the siren song of the Wendigo) until its already too late to turn around.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: CARIBOU.
2 oz. Canadian whiskey (rec. Caribou Crossing Single Barrel), 1 oz. of cabernet, ¼ oz. Canadian maple syrup, shaken with ice, strained into a whiskey glass, and garnished with a cinnamon stick and rosemary sprig
MARY E. BRADDON ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
RHODA BROUGHTON ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: YELLOW CHARTREUSE
RATIONALE: Of course, it is only fitting that the chronicler of The King in Yellow be enjoyed in the company of a garish, yellow drink. All the better if it is a classic, French liquer – like chartreuse – to recall Chambers’ heavy Parisian influence and his frequent depictions of the city’s decadent, bohemian counterculture.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: DEATH FLIP.
1 oz. blanco tequila, 1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse, 1/2 oz. Jägermeister, 1 dash simple syrup, 1 whole egg, nutmeg. Shake all wet ingredients with ice, very vigorously, until the shaker becomes frosted on the outside. Strain into a cocktail glass and dust with nutmeg.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: AMARETTO
RATIONALE: Although Crawford was born in the United States, he spent much of his life in Italy, where he is still remembered warmly. As such, we recommend reading his stories – many of which have romantic undertones – with the luxuriant, Italian almond liqueur, amaretto. And what better concoction to honor the writer of the classic vampire tale, “For the Blood is the Life,” than the vampire cocktail.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: THE VAMPIRE.
4 oz. vodka, 2 oz. amaretto (rec. Gozio or Luxardo), 2 oz. orange juice, 6 oz. club soda, 2 cups raspberries, ¼ cup sugar. Blend the raspberries in a food processor, pushing the pulp through a mesh strainer and discarding the seeds. Combine the puree and sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat, stirring frequently for 10 minutes, until thickened. Chill.
Then shake vodka and amaretto with ice, stir in orange juice and club soda, and pour into iced glasses. Fill a syringe with the raspberry puree, then place this in the glass, “injecting” the puree and stirring it with the syringe before drinking.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: RUBY PORT – OR – LONDON DRY GIN
RATIONALE: As befits the author of “A Tale of Two Cities,” we have two recommendations, one for “the best of times” and one for “the worst of times.” For days of plenty, we point you towards Dickens’ the drink which shines in his favorite Christmas punch: a classic, British, ruby port. For days of want, we suggest Demon Gin – the scourge of the slums of the London metropolis.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: SMOKING BISHOP.
1 bottle of dry red wine, 1 bottle of ruby port (rec. Taylor Fladgate Fine Ruby Porto), ½ cup sugar, 1 thumb-sized piece of chopped ginger root, ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice, and mace, 30 whole cloves, 5 oranges, 2 lemons, and cinnamon sticks. Stud the oranges and one of the lemons with cloves, and bake at 350 degrees for 75 minutes, then place at the bottom of the punch bowl.
In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil, adding the spices and ginger, simmering until the liquid is reduced by half. Bring the wine to a boil in another pan, then add sugar, stirring gently, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for ten minutes. Stir in spice blend and remove from heat. Cover this with a towel and allow to sit for 24 hours.
Then slice and juice the oranges and lemon into the spiced wine. Strain this mixture, then add the port, stirring this over medium heat until it “smokes.” Remove from heat and add to punch bowl, garnishing with lemon wheels from the second lemon. Serve in mugs with cinnamon sticks.
OR…
GIN LIME RICKEY.
4 oz. dry London gin (rec. Sipsmith), 1 oz. fresh lime juice, club soda, 1 lime. Shake gin and lime juice with ice, straining into a Collins glass over ice, filling with club soda, and garnishing with lime wheels.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: SINGLE MALT SCOTCH
RATIONALE: While reading the action-packed, macho works of Sir Arthur, it makes sense to keep this simple but strong: a generous pour of a good, single malt scotch, enjoyed neat. Ideally this should be a particularly smoky-tasting scotch, evocative of wafting tobacco wreaths, and logs snapping on the hearth.
SUGGESTED BOTTLE: LAGAVULIN 8
Released to celebrate its 200th anniversary, this bottle was specifically designed to mimic Lagavulin's style during the 1880s (the sort which, of course, Watson may have set down on the cluttered sideboard in 221B Baker Street when he took board there in 1881). It smells of honey and orange, smoked cod, chocolate, and earth, and tastes of campfire smoke, cinnamon, dark chocolate, mint, and fried potato skins.
If you want to imagine what Doyle or any of his immortal characters may have enjoyed in a good, peaty Scotch, look for this throwback bottle – ideally enjoyed with a good cigar or pipe, and a bowl of smoked almonds.
LORD DUNSANY
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: IRISH WHISKEY
RATIONALE: For the consummate Irish writer of fantasy, nothing but good, old Irish whiskey will do. This is also in honor of one of his most iconic characters, Joseph Jorkens, the overweight, lazy (but well-traveled and fascinating) story-teller, who wiles away his days at his London club, trading wild tales from all over the world in exchange for whiskey and soda.
Jorkens was the protagonist in over 150 tales, and is still renowned as the narrator of entertaining but implausible stories of science fiction, weird fiction, and fantasy – typically ending with Jorkens barely missing his chance to achieve wealth and fame, through no fault of his own.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: SLANE AND SODA.
4 oz. Slane Irish whiskey, club soda, orange slice. Pour whiskey over ice in a Collins glass, cover with club soda, garnish with an orange slice.
AMELIA B. EDWARDS ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
ELIZABETH GASKELL ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: DARK SPICED RUM
RATIONALE: For an author primarily associated with dark tales of the stormy seas – gloomy bodies of water animated by the tentacles of man-eating octopi, giant squid, and proto-Lovecraftian hybrids – the natural pairing is a sea-faring man’s go-to spirit: a dark, spiced rum.
And what better cocktail to pair it with than a dark and stormy – a drink invented by Royal Navy sailors and named after its sinister hue: “the color of a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail under.”
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: DARK AND STORMY.
2 oz. dark spiced rum (rec. Kraken Black Spiced Rum), ½ oz. fresh lime juice, 3 oz. chilled ginger beer, 1 lime wheel, 1 candied ginger slice. Shake rum and lime juice with ice, pour over ice into an ice-filled Collins glass, pour ginger beer over all, garnish with lime wheel and candied ginger pice.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: DARK SPICED RUM
RATIONALE: Hoffmann was well-known for his love of rum – an unusual choice for an urban, middle-class Prussian lawyer, but Hoffmann was always a contrarian and is still renowned for his hot-blooded passions, obsessions, and eccentricity.
He was flamboyant but pathetic, grandiose but tragic, and a dark, spiced rum – sweet but spicy – would be the ideal version of his favorite spirit to recall the duality of his life and work (which often involved doppelgangers, dualism, split-personalities, parallel realities, and thematic doubles).
The author of “Nutcracker and the King of Mice” would be very pleased to be memorialized by drinking a variation of the popular nutcracker cocktail that relies on a dark, spiced rum more heavily than the traditional tequila and vodka.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: SPICED NUTCRACKER.
1 ½ oz. dark spiced rum (rec. Kraken), 1 oz. amaretto (rec. Gozio or Luxardo), 1 oz. cream liqueur, nutmeg. Shake rum, amaretto, and liqueur with ice until shaker becomes frost on the outside. Strain into a chilled rocks glass. Dust with nutmeg to taste.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: JENEVER
RATIONALE: When he returned from a twenty-year snooze in the Catskill Mountains, Irving’s Rip Van Winkle blamed the spell brought on by the intoxicating hollands he was offered by Henry Hudson’s ghostly bowlers.
Rarely used today, hollands – or jenever – is a type of spiced gin that has a smooth, herby finish. Since so many of Irving’s best tales involve New York’s Dutch settlers, we also recommend a particularly Flemish cocktail called the Dutch Connection – and like Rip Van Winkle’s famously dreamy draught, it has quite a boozy kick.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: THE DUTCH CONNECTION.
1 oz. jenever (rec. Sons of Liberty True Born Gin), 1 oz. Lillet Rosé, 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, tonic water, grapefruit twist. Pour the jenever, Lillet, and bitters over ice in a highball, stir, cover with tonic water, and garnish with the grapefruit twist.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: JAMAICAN RUM
RATIONALE: Other than his horror, Jacobs was next best-known for his prolific maritime writings: eccentric tales of hapless sailors and the sea which often had either quite dark or quite humorous endings.
Rum, the favorite drink of British Jack Tars, should give the right flavor to even his landlocked tales of terror (although not a few of his supernatural tales – “Captain Rogers,” “Over the Side,” “In Mid-Atlantic,” “The Lost Ship,” etc. – have a salty plot). Fortunately, another fan of Jacobs has tailor-made a cocktail in his honor – one packing a fine punch – strong enough to pass muster in the merchant mariner mess – led by Jamaican rum.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: MONKEY PAW.
2 oz. Jamaican-style rum (rec. Smith & Cross), 1 oz. orange brandy, 2 oz. pineapple juice, club soda. Shake the rum, brandy, and juice with ice, strain into a Collins glass filled with ice, and cover with club soda (…or skip the soda and add another once each of the rum and brandy for an even boozier profile)
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: PIMM’S
RATIONALE: In my research, I couldn’t find any evidence that Henry James had a favorite drink, but one spirit immediately came to my mind when I thought of him sitting in an English garden gossiping with old, aristocratic women: the late queen’s beloved Pimm’s.
A bit fruity, a bit spicy, a bit nice, and a bit naughty, it seems perfect for Henry James. And the cocktail we recommend could come straight out of “The Turn of the Screw” – especially Benjamin Britten’s operatic adaptation, with its many Edenic references, sharp eroticism, and apple motifs (see the song: “Malo”): the Forbidden Fruit.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT.
1 ½ oz. apple brandy, 1 oz. Pimm’s No. 1, ½ oz. fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp. simple syrup, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, ginger beer, lemon wheel. Shake brandy, Pimm’s, lemon juice, simple syrup, and both bitters with ice, strain into an ice-filled Collins glass, top with ginger beer, and garnish with lemon wheel.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: PORT WINE
RATIONALE: Any imagined gathering of tweedy Cambridge dons settling in beside a snapping, winter fire with wind flapping against the shutters and moaning in the chimney would seem incomplete without a trio of decanters on the side table and cordial glasses in every hand.
The decanters have three hues: one golden-amber (the sherry), one golden-brown (the brandy), and one the same deep ruby-red as recently shed arterial blood – the port. I can’t see M. R. James – as he sits in front, reciting his latest ghost story – enjoying brandy too much. The sherry, perhaps, though I could see him being uninspired by its dry, nutty reservation.
Port, however – well, port is the very thing – and its macabre color, indulgent flavor, and potent kick seem like the perfect assistant to fortify him during his recitations – even as a prop to be slowly and knowingly sipped at inopportune moments of high tension, or unwholesome gore, during the storytelling.
SUGGESTED BOTTLE: TAYLOR FLADGATE FINE RUBY PORTO.
Operated since 1692 (the year of the Salem witch trials – perfect to pair with “The Ash-Tree”) this bottle, which is a steal at under $20, is aged for two years in oak vats and is known for its rich, blackberry-jam nose with hints of oak and chocolate, and for a rich flavor of dark fruits and spice. Drink it in a cordial glass with some bitter, dark chocolate and a bowl of roasted nuts to the side.
RUDYARD KIPLING
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: BOMBAY SAPPHIRE GIN
RATIONALE: The Anglo-Indian writer known for his jungle tales set south of the Himalayas could only be appreciated with an iconic gin and tonic – an Anglo-Indian cocktail invented to stave off malaria by officers in the East India Company. Tonic water’s quinine was used to soothe malarial fevers, and the gin and citrus was used to make the bitter solution palatable.
So when you kick back with “The Phantom Rickshaw” or “At the End of Passage,” sip a good G-and-T as you imagine the sinister ambient sounds of the subcontinental jungle at twilight.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: BOMBAY SAPPHIRE GIN AND TONIC.
2 oz. Bombay Sapphire gin, tonic water, lime wedge. Pour gin into an ice-filled Collins glass, cover with tonic water, stir, garnish with lime wedge.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: IRISH WHISKEY
RATIONALE: While I was tempted to say “green tea” for the author of “Green Tea,” there is a happy medium for the iconic Irish writer who also explicitly extoled the benefits of Irish whiskey in “Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street.”
The green tea shot looks like green tea, but packs the sort of punch that the late Rev. Jennings found waiting for him at the bottom of his third-eye-opening oriental brew (see our article here for a sensible rationale for why Le Fanu would have expected such a sinister reaction from what we, today, regard as an innocuous and healthy beverage). Just like Rev. Jennings, you can expect surprising spirits from a harmless-looking green fluid.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: GREEN TEA SHOT.
½ oz. Irish whiskey (rec. Slane), ½ oz. peach schnapps, ½ oz sour mix, Sprite, lime wedge. Shake Slane, schnapps, and sour mix with ice. Pour into cordial glass, and cover with Sprite, garnishing with a lime wedge.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: CHAMPAGNE
RATIONALE: Any night at the opera must include a flute of champagne – better yet (especially if there is a rumored ghost watching in the wings), a champagne cocktail darkened to a macabre crimson by red vermouth. And, as you might imagine, just such a cocktail exists: one brimming with class but brooding with sexy danger.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: NEGRONI SBAGLIATO.
1 oz. sweet, red vermouth, 1 oz. Campari, dry champagne (rec. Campo Viejo Cava Brut Reserva), orange peel. Stir the vermouth and Campari into a rocks glass half-filled with ice, cover with champagne, and garnish with an orange strip.
H. P. LOVECRAFT
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: EARL GREY TEA
RATIONALE: Lovecraft – aside from being a racist, elitist, self-important contrarian – was a smug teetotaler. This is most manifest in his miserable, scolding parable “Old Bugs” – a literary response to a friend’s passing comment that he would like to try some alcohol before Prohibition went into effect.
In the story, an alcoholic tramp is implied to be the friend, and ends with the typically grandmotherly sentence “Now will you be good?” We assume that this armchair Anglophile who never crossed the Atlantic would have recommended a cup of Earl Grey and to avoid the influence of daemon liquor.
However, if you learn anything from Lovecraft, it should be that he isn’t to be taken seriously or allowed to dampen anyone’s honest joy – so let’s tamper with his steaming cuppa and bring a bit of good humor to American horror’s worst sourpuss. We recommend a hot toddy from Yankee Magazine – a lovely, quarterly publication about New England travel and culture which my father and I subscribe to, and which proudly Yankee Lovecraft should have loved but probably would have found degenerate somehow.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: EARL GREY HOT TODDY
1 bag Earl Grey tea, 1 cup simmering water, 1 ½ oz whiskey (rec. Newport Brewing & Distilling’s Sea Fog single-malt whiskey from Lovecraft’s native Rhode Island), 1 TB lemon juice, 1 TB honey, lemon wedge and cinnamon stick. Steep the tea in the water for about a minute, add whiskey, lemon juice, and honey, stir, and garnish with lemon wedge and cinnamon stick.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: SWEET WHITE WINE
RATIONALE: I could speculate with Machen as with many of these luminaries, but as it so happens, I don’t have to: Machen had a specialty punch that he served up to his friends. As Machen afficianado Nick Louras describes it:
'In the 1920s, Arthur Machen and his wife, Purefoy, were renowned for the garden parties that they hosted at their home in St John’s Wood, in north London. At these gatherings Machen served a libation of his own concoction, called Dog and Duck punch. The Fleet Street journalist D.B. Wyndham Lewis recalled it in his memoirs years later as a “golden, harmless, seductive, suave, crystalline compound, drunk in beakers,” that “crept up quietly and sandbagged you from behind, without warning.'
The odd name is an even longer story: it comes from an eponymous lawn game that Machen invented, named in turn after a D-shaped section of his lawn.
To connect it to his writing, this sweet, golden punch sounds so much like the magical, wine-flavored, yellow spring that the doomed protagonist of "The White People" finds at the bewitched realm she discovers while exploring the woods as a child.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: DOG AND DUCK PUNCH.
3 bottles of sweet (“the sweeter the better”), golden white wine such as Sauternes, Graves, or Barsac (perhaps one of each), and ½ a bottle of gin (rec. a very juniper-forward London Dry Gin -- Sipsmith, Beefeater, or Tanqueray). Pour over ice in a punch bowl and serve in rocks glasses or punch glasses. Consider garnishing with lemon wheels and/or mint leaves to add complexity.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: ABSINTHE
RATIONALE: Utterly French, utterly eccentric, utterly bohemian, and utterly mad, could we possibly recommend anything besides a classic absinthe to represent this tragic, Fin de Siècle genius?
When reading de Maupassant’s wild tales of insanity, passion, and imagination, it’s best to take yourself back to a Moulin Rouge frame of mind with an absinthe drip.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: ABSINTHE DRIP.
1 ½ oz. absinthe (rec. Pernod), 1 sugar cube, chilled water. Pour the absinthe into a cordial glass and set a slotted, absinthe spoon (or any small wire strainer) over the brim with the sugar cube balanced on it. Using a small spoon, eyedropper, or straw, drip chilled ice water (between 4 and 6 oz) over the sugar until it has fully dissolved into the drink below, turning the clear, brownish absinthe a cloudy, pale green.
MARY LOUISA MOLESWORTH ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: BRANDY
RATIONALE: By this point, after scrolling past Mary E. Braddon, Rhoda Broughton, Amelia B. Edwards, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Mary Louisa Molesworth you’re probably wondering “okay, already! Tell me about these mistresses of the Victorian ghost story.” Alongside the likes of Margaret Oliphant and Charlotte Riddell these brilliant ladies were the powerhouse behind one of Gothic fiction’s most under-appreciated yet influential sub-genres: the Victorian English, literary ghost story.
While male authors (e.g., Le Fanu, Dickens, Pain, Capes, Wells Jacobs, James, Collins, and the Benson brothers) also contributed skillfully to the form, female authors tended to have a powerful grip on making a ghost story emotionally compelling and authentic, with their apparent mastery of pathos, loss, and fear.
Their stories brim with spirituality, loneliness, and helplessness, often informed by their own social position: most were either single, widowed, or in bad marriages, and wrote to put food in their stomachs as much as to vent their frustrations.
They epitomized the idea that a literary ghost is a symbol of an unacknowledged reality who can only be exorcised through confrontation, grief, and acceptance – ideas which did not occur as readily to male authors who more or less enjoyed their stations in life and avoided confronting the ugly underbelly of their industrialized society.
During the Victorian era in Britain, one spirit held supreme sway over the aspirational middle class – not the urban poor’s gin, the roving mariner’s rum, or the landed gentry’s fortified wines – it was brandy (often apple brandy or imported cognac) which provided educated, working families with a sense of status while taking the edge off of their often stressful finances.
It wasn’t until the turn of the century that drinks like whiskey, rum, gin, or champagne became common on middle class sideboards, especially for women. So, to honor these mistresses of the craft, I present two genuine, Victorian cocktails made with good brandy, which pair beautifully with a cold winter’s night spent reading “The Old Nurse’s Story,” “The Open Door,” or “The Cold Embrace” by the light of a guttering candle.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: HOT MILK PUNCH.
2 oz. cognac brandy (rec. Philbert Rare Cask Sherry Finish Cognac), 2 oz. spiced rum (rec. Kraken Black Spiced Rum), 1 TB powdered sugar, whole milk, cinnamon stick, nutmeg. Vigorously stir rum, cognac, and sugar together in a snifter. Cover with boiling milk, garnish with cinnamon stick, and dust with nutmeg.
OR…
APPLE TODDY.
4 oz. apple brandy (rec. St. George Spirits Apple Brandy), 1 TB powdered sugar, baked apple wedge, lemon wheel, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, boiling water. Pour brandy into a snifter, add powdered sugar, cover with boiling water, stir, garnish with baked apple wedge, lemon wheel, and cinnamon stick, and dust with nutmeg
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: ANY STRONG BOOZE IN A FRUITY GISE
RATIONALE: I’m not sure what E. Nesbit liked to drink, but as the unapologetically long-suffering feminist of this bunch – one whose woeful ghost stories frequently serve as counterpoint to her own troubled marriage with a philandering husband (complete with a god complex and villainous mustache) – I have no doubt that the most fitting drink to pair with her gloomy stories is a comparatively sweet counterpoint that packs a boozy wallop to help numb out the pain of disappointment and rejection.
And what better cocktail to pair with her stories – many of which (“Man-Size in Marble,” “John Charrington’s Wedding,” “From the Dead,” “In the Dark,” etc., etc.) involve vengeful, resurrected corpses – than a zombie. Deceptively tropical and fruity, yet infamous for its powerful kick, it is perfect for a cathartic girl’s night in.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: ZOMBIE.
1 ½ oz. dark rum, 1 ½ oz. gold rum, 1 ½ oz 151-proof rum, ¾ oz. lime juice, ½ oz. grapefruit juice, ½ oz Falernum, 1 tsp. Pernod absinthe, 1 dash Angostura bitters, orange slice, cherry. Shake all liquid ingredients with ice – very well. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice, and garnish with the cherry and orange slice.
MARGARET OLIPHANT ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
OLIVER ONIONS
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: LONDON DRY GIN
RATIONALE: While I don’t know what Onions drank, I do know that he shared his hey-day – the Edwardian Era through the Roaring Twenties – with the renaissance of my favorite spirit, gin.
Furthermore, what better way to celebrate his peculiar surname (which he chose to pronounce oh-NY-ons, by the way) than with a dry gin Gibson – another Edwardian phenomenon – complete with a garnish of pearl onions.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: GIBSON.
2 oz. dry gin (rec. St. George Terroir or Plymouth), 2 oz. dry vermouth, pearl onion. Shake gin and vermouth with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a pearl onion.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: AMONTILLADO SHERRY
RATIONALE: We all knew that this was coming. Now, given Poe's infamous reputation for being in his cups, we will also recommend considering a French cognac (rec. Courvoissier XO Royal Cognac) in honor of the Poe Toaster, or a mint julep made of good, Southern bourbon (his favorite cocktail and a notorious weakness -- rec. Old Grand-Dad, bottled in bond).
However, as a life-long aficionado of Frasier (who drank Harveys Bristol Cream sherry, by the way) and a genuine sherry enthusiast, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to recommend this under-appreciated aperitif (although, thankfully, it is apparently enjoying a renaissance among Millennials) in honor of Poe’s immortal classic, “The Cask of Amontillado.”
A good, old Amontillado will taste fresh, dry, and nutty with a complex range of sweet, spicy, and umami flavors: caramel, tobacco, hazelnuts, oak, figs, leather, pastries, butter, and toast.
SUGGESTED BOTTLE: EQUIPO NAVAZOS LA BOTA DE AMONTILLADO
Splurge on a fine bottle of Amontillado – (this runs $80, but for a more affordable option with comparable complexity and taste, you can start out with a $15 GONZALEZ BYPASS VINA 12 YEAR AMONTILLADO). It is absolutely delicious: a fresh and sweetly spicy nose is followed by caramel, sweet potato, oak, baking spices, vanilla, and butter, all wrapped up in a very dry, hazelnut finish.
Pour yourself a whole white wine glass of the stuff (usually I’d recommend a copita or a cordial glass, but if you’re reading Poe, we need to be a bit more indulgent) and sip it with a bowl of oily, green olives and a bowl of dried dates at your side.
CHARLOTTE RIDDELL ⸺ See: MISTRESSES OF THE VICTORIAN GHOST STORY
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: ABSINTHE AND CHARTREUSE
RATIONALE: Reportedly, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein while drinking absinthe (I haven’t found a primary source, but let’s go with it) – a decadent, visionary drink which perfectly represents the frenzied obsessions of her wild anti-hero, one traditionally associated with dreams that decay into nightmares and ambitions that drown in tragedy. But what of her equally tragic Creature? Sweet at heart – a vegetarian, you might recall – earthy, wholesome, and wistful, in spite of his sallow skin, an herbaceous chartreuse would perfectly represent the wandering monster.
You can go for a yellow chartreuse if you are a literary purist (the Creature’s mummified flesh was jaundiced in appearance) or green chartreuse if you are a fan of the Universal horror films (though filmed in black and white, their use of grey-green makeup lent the Creature his association with the color).
Fortunately, the Paris Review adapted the famous (and appropriately named) Corpse Reviver cocktail in Shelley’s honor with these two spirits, and – with a little adjusting of my own – we can finally attempt to bring these two together.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: CORPSE REVIVER 1818.
1 oz. chartreuse (green or yellow), 1 oz. absinthe (rec. Pernod), 1 oz. dry gin (rec. Tanqueray), 1 oz. Lillet Blanc, 1 tsp. lemon juice, lemon twist. Shake liquid ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: SCOTCH AND RUM
RATIONALE: The author of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Treasure Island” was famous for his stories about human duality, whether they be about the murderous philanthropist, Jekyll, or the lovable buccaneer Long John Silver. His tales could just as easily be set in foggy, craggy, sea-soaked, Scottish inlets or in aromatic, dreamy, sun-soaked, tropical paradises. As such, how could we possibly avoid making two recommendations?
A peaty Scotch whiskey to represent the gloomy, shadow-side of life, and a bright, tropical rum to represent the sunny glories to which we aspire. So, does such a cocktail exist? Yes: the Islay daiquiri.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: ISLAY DAIQUIRI.
1 oz. peated single malt scotch (rec: Lagavulin 8), 1 oz. pineapple rum, ¾ oz. fresh lime juice, ½ oz. coconut oolong simple syrup*, 2 drops Bittermens tiki bitters, nutmeg. Shake all liquid ingredients with ice, strain into a rocks glass filled with ice, then dust the top with nutmeg.
*Steep 1/3 oz. of coconut-oolong tea in 1 cup of boiled water for 8 min., then strain, immediately add 2 cups of brown sugar, stirring briskly until dissolved. Refrigerate until cool.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: CLARET-STYLE RED WINE
RATIONALE: “I never drink… wine…” Although Stoker’s undead antagonist favors a dark red beverage of a different sort, we can feel comfortable mimicking his haemophagic inclination by sipping on the favorite wine of many intimidating, old world aristocrats: claret.
Now, claret is just another word for a robust red wine from the Bordeaux region, or one with a similar character (think Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon). But why would we go to Bordeaux for our pairing when we could trek across the Carpathian mountains and find a juicy, red offering from the beating heart of Romania?
SUGGESTED BOTTLE: CRAMA OPRIȘOR CABERNET SAUVIGNON.
A dark red, claret-style Romanian wine, this sensual bottle comes complete with a blood-red label emblazoned with a gold cross to ward off revenants. Robust and adventurous, it’s rich nose smells of red currants, sour cherries, and dark chocolate, and it tastes of blackberry, plums, black cherries, oak, tobacco, dark chocolate, with a leathery, smoky finish.
In the seductively Draculean words of its own makers: “cabernet Sauvignon from Oprişor speaks more about [this] place than one could render in words. It brings together days of curse – of terrible frost or heat – with days in which no sane mindful man would abandon the place. [It is] tumultuous, ardent, rich, intelligent, convincing, [and] bemusing.” One word seems to pop up in every review: bold. It is a powerful, charismatic wine – one that can work its will on you.
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: BOURBON
RATIONALE: A stodgy, cynical, censorious eugenicist, Wells lacked the aspirational poshness of many of our authors, and was known to be sour on alcohol, which he tended to view as either a vice of the un-awoken proletariat (cf. his disapproving depictions of the working class barflies in “The Invisible Man”) or of the decadent bourgeoisie (he despised Catholic intellectuals G. K. Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc for their animated conversations at the pub for giving their faith a “boozy halo”).
Pretentiously “unpretentious,” it is difficult for me to associate Wells’ tweedy science fiction with fine wines, aperitifs, or liqueurs, yet he was too class conscious in the other direction to be paired with gin or beer. An imported, Yankee bourbon, however – the kind favored by his adventurous, American friend Stephen Crane and his New Yorker mistress, Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger – is a happy middle ground.
Yes, somewhat worldly without being genteel, and somewhat prole without being common, bourbon is the perfect blend of working class and intellectual for the contrarian Mr. Wells. And as it so happens, H. G. Wells inspired two nearly identical but slightly unique bourbon-based Manhattan cocktails.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: THE H. G. WELLS – OR – THE INVISIBLE MAN-HATTAN
2 oz. bourbon (rec. Old Grand-Dad, Kentucky Straight Bourbon, bottled in bond), 1 oz. dry vermouth, ½ oz. Ricard, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, 1 Maraschino cherry. Shake all liquid ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
To make this an Invisible Man-hattan, simply skip the Ricard, change the dry vermouth to sweet vermouth, and opt for a more rye-forward bourbon (rec. Rittenhouse Rye, bottled in bond)
IDEAL BEVERAGE PAIRING: ABSINTHE
RATIONALE: Wilde famously boasted that he could “resist everything except temptation,” and his life and writing have long been associated with the decadent excesses of the Fin de Siècle. Like so many other tragic figures from that period – Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec, Rimbaud, and Baudelaire – Wilde became associated with the Green Fairy of absinthe, a drink thought to be symbolic of fantasy, depravity, and madness. We recommend a cocktail specifically designed in Wilde’s honor – one made with Irish whiskey to boot, a perfect drink to sip on St. Paddy’s Day while you read Dorian Gray or The Canterville Ghost.
SUGGESTED COCKTAIL: OSCAR’S FOLLY.
2 oz. Irish whiskey (rec. Slane), ¼ oz. absinthe (rec. Pernod), ¼ oz aperitivo liqueur, ¼ oz. Maraschino liqueur, 1 tsp. crème de menthe, 1 lime peel. Shake whiskey, absinthe, and the liqueurs with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass, then slowly pour crème de menth over the back of a spoon held over the center of the glass (allowing it to sink to the bottom). Do not stir, and serve with lime peel as a garnish.
...These are just my ideas. Let me know what drinks you would pair with these authors, or any whom I've left out!