Mercy Missiles Cocktail Hour

Readers, as you may have suspected, it has taken us a good solid week (and a half) to get over the bitter taste of defeat in the wake of the Phillies' commanding sweep of our beloved Cincinnati Reds in the NL pennant race. R.I.P., 2010 season: you were as surprising as you were exciting. Se la vie.

It's fitting, then, that I now bring you the next installment in our ongoing series of thematic cocktail recipe fun. This offering was served up last night for our viewing of the season 4 finale of Mad Men, a show which has given us a consistently good excuse to mix up some exotic drinks. Upon review of our liquor cabinet, I decided we should delve back into the instincts-defying world of scotch-inspired cocktails--both because of our recent success with the surprisingly good Blood and Sand we mixed up last week, and because we still had more than half a bottle of scotch laying around.

A little research brought an excitingly-named candidate to the top of our list: the Piper at the Gates of Dawn(!). Like the Blood and Sand, the first sip is kind of strange--but the Kahlua takes hold pretty quickly and the cream smooths everyone's rough edges while the maraschino liqueur--which, oddly enough, I had on hand--lends a warm, syrupy dimension to the back end. It's pretty nice, if a little heavy. You wouldn't really want more than one or two--definitely a cold weather drink. Here's the details:

Piper at the Gates of Dawn

• 1&1/2 oz scotch
• 1 oz Kahlua
• 1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
• 1/2 oz cream

Add all ingredients except the cream to a shaker filled with ice, shake until cold, then strain into an old fashioned glass over ice. Slowly pour the cream into the drink over the back of a spoon, so it floats on top.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn was released in 1967, so we can make this drink thematic by imagining the events in this season of Mad Men (along with the great clothes and swingin' mod-ness of the glass-and-art deco SCDP offices)--all of which takes place in 1965--as leading up to the sound and insanity of the Floyd album. This year we see the series kicking into the 60's ideal, & as one of my favorite tv blogs points out: what we generally think of as the American 1960's didn't really come about until there was a Kennedy in the ground and Beatles on the tarmac. So, you know, if you really need your cocktail to speak to you about your favorite tv show and its corresponding cultural environment via its own (probably arbitrary) moniker, then I guess you can think about it that way. Me? Yeah, I like things to be appropriately related to my beverages in that way, and this little recipe is pretty tasty to boot.

The Kahlua surrounds the icy scotch underground.

Ouch

Wow, that was heart-rending. The Phillies' Roy "Doc" Halladay (yeah, yeah, awesome name, I know) threw only the second post-season perfect game in baseball history last night--he's the first to do it in the National League--the Yankee's Don Larsen is the other guy, way back in 1965. Okay, yeah, great--but ouch, did it have to be against my Reds? In the very first game of the series? Pretty darn deflating, you guys.

If you need me today I'll be at my local candle merchant, stocking up on extra voodoo for the JB shrine...

Sunday Cocktail Hour with Mercy Missiles

Readers, we've been into watching Mad Men this t.v. season. We're always looking for good excuses to mix up a little something, and the swingin' art deco aesthetics & general doom-n-gloom feel of the show are good reasons to "tie one on," as they say. This clearly calls for some ritualistic cocktail drinking, and a new favorite teevee story show means we're in the market for a new thematic concoction. So, since there's been a trend of scotch imbibing here at HQ lately--which has never really been our poison of choice, but has been growing on us--I decided to give the Blood and Sand a try.

My pal Andy over at South Twelfth has been promoting the B&S for quite some time, so I credit him with my awareness of it. It's pretty much the only scotch-related mixed drink I've ever heard of (although a quick web search suggests many more), Andy has certainly advocated it, and I actually had nearly all the ingredients on-hand. So after a quick cherry brandy-procuring field trip I decided to do a (wet) dry run before tonight's episode airs.

Here's the recipe I used for the first trial:

• 1&1/2 oz blended scotch whiskey
• 1/3 oz orange juice
• 1/3 oz cherry brandy
• 1/3 oz sweet vermouth
• orange peel for garnish

I combined all ingredients (except the peel) with ice in a shaker (well, I used a sports bottle b/c my shaker is in the shop), I shook gently to combine, then strained into two brandy glasses & added the orange peel.

Verdict? The first sip was...strange. I wasn't expecting the scotch taste to be as prominent as it was (although the recipe I used specified twice the amount of scotch as the other ingredients so it didn't get overpowered by all the sweet stuff going on...), but after the 3rd or 4th sip I totally got it. There's a nice compromise between peaty and sweet, and the more I drank (as with so many cocktails) the more I enjoyed. It's not my favorite by any means--I'm still, foremost, a bourbon woman--but it mitigates a lot of what I didn't like about scotch in the first place.

It has the added impact of being unexpected (scotch? in a mixed drink??), and it's certainly better than it has to be. Going by my experience the name should be "Sand and Blood" (based on what you taste first), but I guess that's just quibbling--besides, that would ruin the reference to the Valentino movie. Altogether, I call this a win, and so will be sipping one (or three) during tonight's episode. Cheers!

Mercy Missiles Baseball Time Travel Adventure: 1990

Readers, can you stand anymore Cincinnati Reds fanfare today? I hope so, because that video up there is especially glorious, perfect for inclusion in our day-long post-division-clinching celebration here at HQ. A highlight extravaganza from the last World Series appearance by our favorite team, and boy what a lineup they had: the awesome Eric Davis, Barry Larkin (at the beginning of his long career with the Reds), Rob "Wild Thing" Dibble, and the amazing sport-goggle enthusiast Chris Sabo! Also: watch for appearances by controversial team owner Marge Schott and MM favorite Tony Perez.

Reds Win The NLC!

HURRAH!

The Reds won the Central Division last night in dramatic fashion, beating the Astros 3-2 on a bottom-of-the-ninth solo homerun by Jay Bruce! 15 years, readers: it has been 15 years since we've made it to the post-season--9 years since we've even had a winning season...gosh, & I forgot how awesome it feels! The baseball gods are smiling down benevolently on the Queen City of the West today.

And hey: Louisvillians had a thrill when Aroldis Chapman--the Cuban pitching phenom who spent most of his summer freaking out Louisville Bats crowds with his 100+ mph fastballs (& 97 mph change-ups!)--was called in to close the 9th inning. Wow, we were not disappointed: he struck out the first two batters and got the third to ground out. 3-up-3-down for the new guy; I just hope the Reds' front office has sense enough to keep him around for a good long while.

And how great is Dusty Baker?? He is now in some rare company: just the 9th manager in all of baseball history to lead three different teams to the post-season (Giants 97-00, Cubs 03 & Reds 10), a HOF manager for sure (not sure about you, but I sure don't miss Jack McKeon--the Marlins can keep that one. He's poised to take advantage of Florida's thriving retirement community and myriad early bird buffet specials). Let's all be glad the Cubs didn't know what to do with Dusty--he seems like a good fit in Cincy.

The post-season starts next week. Go Reds!

Baseball

Readers, the Reds have one game to go to clinch the National League's Central Division title! They play the Astros tonight, and hopefully we'll be celebrating at the feet of the Johnny Bench shrine. Go reds!

Tonight is also an exciting night for baseball for another reason: PBS is airing the first part of Ken Burns' Baseball: The Tenth Inning (starts at 8pm!). The doc will focus on the 90's & 00's, so get ready to hear about the player strike and steroids--it was a depressing & scandalous two decades. Anyway, that's the nerdy little documentary elf there in the photo (I didn't know you could still buy denim shirts...)

By the way: did I ever tell you about the time I came thisclose to meeting Ken Burns? It was back in June at the big annual librarian conference in D.C. He was set to be meeting and greeting at the Baker & Taylor booth, and as I was walking over to say "hi" (or something...I'm not so good with celebrities) I noticed that another booth a few aisles over had a copy of his Civil War book. I thought it would make a better impression (i.e. lessen the odds of me doing/saying something awkward) if I had one of his books in hand for him to sign, so I made a detour to get it. Well, the lady at the booth was reluctant to sell it to me, so I had to guilt-trip her a little, giving her my breathless "butIgottahaveitsoIcanmeetKenBurnsandI'minabighurry,lady!!" explanation before she agreed to take my 5 bucks. Sheesh.

By the time I speed walked back to Baker & Taylor, he had disappeared (45 minutes before he was supposed to)! I got an apologetic shrug from the two B&T office drones manning the booth: "Uh, sorry--Mr. Burns is very busy, so, uh, he had to leave early. But maybe you can catch him--he just left right before you walked up..." They pointed vaguely. I considered that scenario for a minute: spotting Ken Burns from across the enormous, jam-packed showroom floor of the Washington National Convention Center, I could sprint the 200 yard distance towards where he is getting on the escalator to the equally-enormous lobby, dodging fragile Nancy Pearl wannabes, shoving tattooed teen lit enthusiasts and vaulting bookbag-laden oldsters on Rascals. I would catch up to him, maybe yelling out over the din of the crowd, and then demand that he sign the book (which isn't even one I have actually read).

I decided against it. (Moral of the story: if you are about to meet a celebrity just square your shoulders, feign normalcy and say something about admiring their work. It probably helps if you pretend to be about 60% as excited to meet them as you really are).

Anyway: it's a great night for baseball, so go get some, Americans!

Hey, Cincinnati fans: as of today the magic number for the Reds to clinch the NL central division is now down to 3! That means any combination of 3 losses by the Cardinals or wins for the Reds will cause something to happen that hasn't happened since 1995: the Reds will win something! They'll be in the playoffs, readers: the post-season!

As you can see, this calls for a candles-and-incense vigil to be held at the official Johnny Bench shrine here at MM HQ--the first time in 15 years that such ceremony has denoted legitimate hope (rather than fragrant, effigial denial). We'll keep the candles burning 24-hours-a-day this weekend, while the Reds are in San Diego, hopefully clinching the division title!

Go Reds!