I don’t always mix cocktails. Sometimes it’s really simple, like a beer, and sometimes the alcohol base is a one off thing that is pretty much never used elsewhere. Think of this as a miscellaneous category of drinks. Maybe a few mocktails.

The title of the cocktail is linked to the source, since I am by no means a mixologist, and can claim none of these as my own creation.

Please don’t drink and drive, and if you are under 21, do not try this at home… or in public. Always drink responsibly.

Peanut Butter Stout

Rather than a cocktail, I sipped on my favorite beer at the time, a Peanut Butter Stout from Lead Dog Brewing.

Seemed like a good choice for Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes, since my love of beer is likely a contributing factor…ok, it’s definitely a contributing factor…to my own fluffiness.

Mixed 12/05/2021

Edison’s Medicine

6 Basil Leaves

1 1/2 oz silver Cachaca

1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse Liqueur

3/4 oz Lime Juice

1/2 oz Agave Syrup

1/3 oz chilled water (only if you're using dry ice for the cocktail. If you're using wet ice, you can omit the water)

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a glass.

Edison’s Medicine was an ideally ironic pick to go with a book on Theranos on Elizabeth Holmes, who named her magical medical machine, The Edison and so as perfect for Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyou.

Mixed 05/01/2022

Olde Fashioned Egg Nog

1 egg

1 teaspoon of sugar

Dry Red Wine or Hard Cider

Nutmeg

Mix the egg and sugar in a cocktail mixer over ice and pour into a glass. Pour the cider or wine over that. Sprinkle nutmeg on top.

While campaigning on the first front porch campaign, William Henry Harrison’s eggnog was frequently drunk while on the campaign trail, making this take on a classic holiday cocktail the perfect choice for my review of Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy by Robert M. Owens.

Mixed 12/26/2021

Ukrainian Flag Cocktail

1 Shot Banana Liqueur

1 Shot Blue Curacao

I was unable to make this cocktail properly. You're supposed to slowly pour the curacao over a spoon so that it floats on top of the banana liqueur, creating a blue and yellow cocktail that looks like the Ukrainian flag. I did not do it right. Mine just came out blue. If you want to see it made properly, you can watch a video here.

This book was topical to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and provides some of the reasons why, and so this cocktail was a good pick for Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum

Mixed 05/15/2022

Dark Fairy Cream

1.25 oz Absinthe

1 oz Chocolate liqueur

0.5 oz Vodka

1.25 oz Half and half

chocolate shavings for garnish

Put all ingredients in shaker with ice, shake well, pour in to coupe glass and garnish with chocolate shavings.

The accompanying cocktail to this weeks book, The Psychedelic Handbook: A practical guide to Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, and DMT/Ayahuasca by Rick Strassman, MD, was not so easy to pick. Googling psychedelic cocktail kicked back a bunch of funky layered cocktails, which we know I can’t layer for anything, or cocktails with actual psychedelics in them, which I am not doing, for a variety of reasons, mostly the legality of it, but also because Dr. Strassman does not recommend mixing alcohol and psychedelics. So, I found an absinthe-based cocktail, absinthe being called the green fairy in the 19th century since it was believed the wormwood in the liqueur caused psychedelic effects.

Mixed on 12/04/2022

Toxic Waste

1 1/2 oz. Toxic Waste Candy infused Melon Liqueur

1 oz. Green Apple Vodka

1 oz. Lime Juice

1/2 oz. Lemon Juice

Place Toxic Waste Candy in a bottle and fill with melon liqueur. Let sit for a few hours or overnight.

In a shaking glass with ice, combine the toxic waste candy infused melon liqueur, green apple vodka, lemon juice, and lime juice. Shake well. Strain mix into glass over ice and garnish with a lime slice.

Since Radium is toxic, and wasted an awful lot of lives, this weeks cocktail was the best choice for Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore.

Mixed on 01/15/2023

Hate

1 1/2 oz Tobasco Sauce

1 oz Dry Vermouth

1 oz Rum

1 oz Gin

1 oz Vodka

2 oz Peppermint Liqueur

1 oz Irish Cream

2 oz Tequila Gold

1 oz Whiskey

Put all in a shaker with ice, shake, serve over ice. It was horrible. The cocktail separates and curdles before your very eyes. Much like Antifa's ideologies.
This recipe was as terrible as Antifa is, which is why it was such a good choice for Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy by Andy Ngo.

Mixed on 05/14/2023

Silent Seance

1.5 oz. Mezcal

.5 oz. Overproof Dark Rum

.5 oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz. Coffee Liqueur

.25 oz. Simple Syrup

1 dash Aromatic Bitters

Long Pepper (Garnish)

Add all ingredients except pepper to a shaking tin, add ice, and shake well. Fine strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a generous grating of long pepper.

Mixed up a Silent Seance, for this weeks book of the week, Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances by Lisa Morton.

Mixed on 10/15/2023

The Bad Guy

3 oz Absinthe

1 oz Rum

1 oz Everclear

Build in the glass. Since the bad guys were ahead, I went with The Bad Guy cocktail for this weeks book, Due Process by Ari H. Mendelson.

Mixed on 03/03/2024

Cream Egg

1/4 Cup Whole Milk

3/4 Cup Seltzer

2 Tablespoons U-Bet Chocolate Syrup

Pour the milk in the glass, then pour in the seltzer. Add the chocolate syrup and push the syrup up against the walls of the glass without stirring. This drink was specifically mentioned in this weeks book, All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business by Mel Brooks, so I knew I had to try it.

Mixed on 08/18/2024

The Swindle

1 oz Cointreau

2 oz Mezcal

3/4 oz fresh lime juice

1/4 oz fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz orange juice

Optional garnish is chili-lime seasoning

Shake all with ice, pour over ice.

This was a perfect pick for Walter E. Williams book More Liberty Means Less Government, as he considers all government A Swindle.

Mixed 02/06/2022

Angry Spiced Rum

4 oz Angry Orchard Crisp Apple

1 oz Spiced Rum

1/2 oz Lime Juice

3/4 oz Simple Syrup

1 tsp Allspice Liqueur

The recipe says to shake it up. I experienced a small explosion. I recommend stirring.

Since Hard Cider is a perennial favorite in New England, at least according to my friend who lives in New Hampshire, I went with this offering from Angry Orchard for the book on New Hampshire’s native son, Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills by Roy Franklin Nichols.

Mixed on 05/29/2022

Dirty Snowman

1 scoop vanilla ice cream

1 oz Irish cream

Hot Cocoa to fill cup

Whip Cream for garnish

Add 1 large scoop of ice cream to a mug. Pour Baileys and hot chocolate over the ice cream. Top with whipped cream.

I needed a cute little cocktail to go with this weeks cute little book, Hookers and Blow Save Christmas, written and illustrated by Munty C. Pepin.

Mixed 12/25/2022

Mead

For this weeks book of the week, The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown, rather than a fancy cocktail, I went with a solid Viking libation, homemade mead, this particular mead was made up by friends of mine and as so so good.

Mixed on 03/05/2023

Samurai Old Fashioned

2 oz barrel aged Shochu

1 tsp sugar

3 dashes Angostura bitters

1 splash Soda Water

Orange peel

Muddle the sugar, bitters and soda water in a glass, add the shochu and stir for about ten seconds. Add ice and orange peel.

Since the legendary Five Rings was written by a Samurai warrior, Miyamoto Musashi, it seemed a Samurai Old Fashioned was the perfect choice for The Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi's Art of Strategy by Miyamoto Musashi.

Mixed on 04/16/2023

Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat Ale

And I know I usually do a topical cocktail, but all my mixers are boxed up somewhere, due to the ongoing remodel, so I’m keeping it simple, and having one of my favorite beers, a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Ale. It’s semi-topical. Sam Adams is not just a marketing gimmick, he was the cousin of John Adams, second president of the United States. Samuel Adams was initially an anti-federalist, who was swayed during the political debates following the constitutional convention of the rightness of the Federalist’s cause.

Mixed on 09/10/2023

Pancake Cocktail

1 oz Cinnamon Schnapp’s

2 oz Irish Cream

Whipped Cream to Top

Cinnamon for Garnish

Put the Schnapp's and Irish Cream in a shaker with ice and shake. Pour into a Coupe Glass, top with Whipped Cream and Cinnamon to garnish.

This was a delicious cocktail to mix up for this weeks book, SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions: Speak Your Mind, Unload Your Questions, Figure Out What It Means to be Human by Rainn Wilson, Devon Gundry, Golriz Lucina, and Shabnam Mogharabi.

Mixed on 02/04/2024

Cup of Justice

1.5 oz Amaro

.5 oz Elderflower Liqueur

.5 oz Cognac

2 drops Chocolate Liqueur

Stir all with ice in a shaker, pour into a cocktail glass. Cup of Justice was an excellent pick for this week’s book, Just Power by Ari H. Mendelson.

Mixed on 06/02/2024

Liquid Heroine

1.5 oz Peppermint Liqueur

1.5 oz Jägermeister

Put both in a shaker with ice and shake. Pour into either two shot glasses or one coupe glass.

I mixed this one up for The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger, and I needed it to get through this dumpster fire of a book.

Mixed on 09/15/2024

Flensburger Dunkel

Now, I had an internal debate on which drink to make this week but ultimately decided to go with a simple German Beer. Part of why Grover Cleveland put on weight was his love of German food and German beer. Plus, he was essentially a good, honest man, so I feel like a simple beer is more appropriate for him over any fancy cocktails.

Mixed on 03/26/2023

The Human Iceberg

2½ oz sweet & sour cocktail mix

2 oz Corona beer

1½ oz Sauza Gold tequila

1 oz Cointreau

1 oz simple syrup

¾ oz fresh lime juice

2 lime wedges

Kosher Salt for the glass

Use one lime wedge to prep the glass, then dredge the lime juice edge of glass through the salt. Put all the rest of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice (except for the second lime wedge....that is garnish). STIR...DO NOT SHAKE the cocktail. Pour into your salt rimmed glass and garnish with the second lime wedge.

The Human Iceberg was one of Harrison’s nicknames, so this is what I picked for Charles W. Calhoun’s book, Benjamin Harrison.

Mixed on 04/30/203

KBS Blueberry—Founders Brewing

Since my kitchen still looks like empty walls and no flooring, I am going with another bottled drink, this time an offering from Founders Brewing Co, KBS Blueberry.

Mixed on 09/24/2023

Hot Toddy

1 Cup Hot Tea

1 Shot Liquor

Lemon

Honey

A classic hot toddy is entirely to taste, so the liquor is your preference, although I have linked to The Tea Shelf for the cocktail as they have recommendations for which liquor pairs best with which tea. Lemon and honey are definitely to taste. I mixed this up today because I am fighting a cold while I record, and there really wasn’t a best cocktail to go with this weeks book, Craft: An American History by Glenn Adamson.

Mixed on 02/12/2024

Serpent’s Kiss

Equal Parts

Melon Liqueur

Coconut Rum

Raspberry Liqueur

Pineapple Juice

Pour all over ice and stir. I needed a serpent cocktail for this weeks book, Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt by John Anthony West. Cocktail was a little sweet, but the book was quite good.

Mixed on 06/23/2024

Justice Served

Bundaberg Ginger Beer

1 ounce Fernet Branca

1 orange wedge

Orange rind for garnish

Fill ice with glass. Add Fernet Branca and squeeze the orange wedge into the glass. Top with Ginger Beer and stir to mix. Garnish with orange rind.

This cocktail was a good pick for the solving of a 400 year old murder, as discussed in this weeks book, Terror to the Wicked, by Tobey Pearl.

Mixed on 04/03/2022

The Libertarian

1.5 oz Metaxa 5 Star

1.5 oz fig syrup

.75 oz lemon juice

.75 oz honey syrup

Bruised Rosemary Leaves

Figs to Garnish

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over crushed ice. Garnish with some fresh sliced figs.

Of COURSE I mixed up The Libertarian for a book called Getting Libertarianism Right, by Hans Hermann Hoppe.

Mixed on 09/18/2022

Hunter Gatherer

1 oz Jägermeister

1 oz Cocchi Americano

3/4 oz raspberry syrup with 1 dash bitters (for recipe on how to make the called for spicy raspberry syrup, follow the link to bevvy.com.)

3/4 oz lemon juice

Stir together in a Collins glass with ice. Garnish with raspberry and mint leaves.

A Hunter-Gatherer cocktail for this weeks book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein.

Mixed 03/19/2023