Each week film club member Matthias Sundberg has impressed us by posting on Instagram a cocktail he’s made specifically to accompany our Film Club at Home selections. Here, he’s kindly shared the recipes to each of his creations.
Movie 1: Casablanca
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I chose a classic American cocktail to go along with this film. Originally a medicine to cure tummy aches and sobriety, it was described in an 1803 book by John Davis Travels Of Four Years And A Half In The United States Of America: During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, And 1802 thusly: “a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.” Thomas Jefferson, a Virginian, was likely a fan, if you ever wondered where all that droning on and on about “the course of human events blah blah blah,” came from.
Notes on the drink: This is a 2-1 ratio drink. I’m afraid this can’t be made with just any whisky. It needs to be made with whiskEy, bourbon to be specific. The best bourbons for a julep are not the best bourbons of all time. My favourite bourbon of all time is Noah’s Mill and I’d never mix that with anything. In my opinion, the best julep bourbon is Maker’s Mark. It’s sweet corniness works very well with the mint syrup. Buffalo Trace works very well, too.
Rye is right out.
Mint Julep
50ml bourbon (Maker’s Mark, Buffalo Trace)
25ml mint simple syrup
Crushed ice
Sprig of mint (garnish)
Pour ingredients over crushed ice. Add more ice on top to make a little boozy sno-cone. Take your mint sprig in one palm, and clap your hands together strongly, once. This will wake the leaves up and make them smell very minty. Plant that little flag in your ice and enjoy.
Mint Simple Syrup
1:1 ratio of water to sugar
100g granulated sugar (I like a demerara, but I’m snooty)
100ml water
Mint
Combine in a pot on the stove. Heat the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves. When the sugar has dissolved let it simmer for like 45 seconds then kill the heat.
Toss in half to a whole bunch of mint in the syrup. Walk away. Read a book. Watch a YouTube video about whittlin’. When it’s cool, pull the desiccated mint out and you have mint syrup.
Movie 2: A Canterbury Tale
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This is a classic British film with all the stiff upper lips and bizarre glue-based terrorism. The only obvious choice is a G&T.
As we all know, the British East India Company developed this as a way to get quinine into their army to stave off malaria (funny how so many of these used to be medicine). However, a 2004 study (it took that long to actually study this) came to find that this was not a valid medicinal option: “Considerable quantities of tonic water may, for a short period of time, lead to quinine plasma levels at the lower limit of therapeutic efficacy and may, in fact, cause transitory suppression of parasites. However, continuous levels that are appropriate for malaria prophylaxis cannot be maintained with even large amounts of tonic.” You can read the study here.
Notes on the Drink: I like to do mine like the Spanish do - in a bulbous red wine glass with lots of ice and a squidge of lime. The gin that I used for this movie was Jensen’s, a beautiful Bermondsey gin that was just the right amount of floral and potent. Other favourites are East London Dry Gin #2, Hendrick’s and Bluecoat (out of Philadelphia...it’s legitimately great). The Tonic was a Fever Tree Mediterranean, only because I couldn’t get “plain” at the shop.
Gin & Tonic
Dry Gin
Tonic
Lime, to taste
Loads of Ice
Add everything to taste in a bulbous wine glass. If you’re truly English, you already know how to make one of these. It’s part of your 3rd Forms, right? You don’t need a Yank telling you how to do that.
Movie 3: The Awful Truth
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For this film, I chose a classic Cary Grant drink: everything. This one is simple. Open the liquor cabinet, pull out every bottle you have, place it on the coffee table and have at it. The man was a barely functional alcoholic and LSD enthusiast, so maybe grab a couple of stamps and microdose your way through the movie, if you’re feeling like you want to step into his shoes.
But weirdly, he doesn’t drink anything in this movie. He’s always ABOUT to drink something. Egg nog (what?), a martini (standard), a couple of things at the club, flat champagne, but he never ACTUALLY drinks anything in the movie. So to find a good Cary Grant drink, you have to move to another movie if you don’t want to empty the liquor cabinet/punish your filtering organs.
In North By Northwest, a be-sunglassed Grant has dinner with Eva Marie-Saint on the train to Chicago and the first thing he does is order a drink: a Gibson. I’d recommend this as a more moderate drink for Cary Grant-ing.
Notes on the Drink: This is a dry martini with a pickled onion in it. Little bit of an umami bomb there so get a good cocktail onion. I thought I had some in the fridge, but I didn’t, and so used a couple slices of homemade pickled onion. Worked for me in a pinch. The dry vermouth I used is Londinio, made right here in London. It’s great and my new go-to. My other favorite is Dolin.
Gibson
75ml dry gin
15ml dry vermouth
Cocktail onion garnish
Add the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail onion.
Movie 4: Citizen Kane
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RKO 281! Classic American cinema. We all know the legends and the horse hockey behind it. Turns out media moguls have always been awful! Whodathunkit?
I debated on going for an Old Fashioned with this one, but it didn’t seem right. In doing some research, I went with Cointreau’s house cocktail “Rosebud” which is really rather nice. Ultimately, it’s a margarita with vodka instead of tequila, and given that this was the Cinco de Mayo week pick, I thought it worked.
Notes on the Drink: You’ll need to get some rosewater for this. You just do. It adds a lovely floral note that really elevates it. Get a decent vodka too. I could only manage Finlandia, which has way too much of its own flavour and kind of overwhelms the drink. East London does a nice vodka, which I recommend. But use what you have. Also, I went with a pre-squeezed bottle of lime juice because I couldn’t be arsed. The ratios on the Cointreau website are weird and I really didn’t care for them (4:9????? REALLY?), so I say simplify and go with your favourite margarita recipe with bitters and rosewater and vodka.
Rosebud (adapted from Cointreau’s website)
50ml vodka
25ml lime juice
25ml Cointreau (or other orange flavored liqueur)
Cucumber slices
Mint
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Dash of rosewater
Pinch of sea salt
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Do not forget the salt. It totally makes it. Shake the ever loving hell out of it until your hands hurt from the cold. Strain into a coupe (also: this makes a smaller more manageable drink, however, if you double the amounts, the flavours seem to come together better. That said, that first step is a lulu, so beware).
Movie 5: Grizzly Man
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This is a heartbreaking film. I watched it first when I was working for a company that tracked product placement in movies and television and boy was it hard to watch. Also, very little product placement in this movie.
I thought about something German, given Werner Herzog’s involvement, but all I could find in terms of German cocktails were recipes involving Schnapps, Goldschlager or Jagermeister and I’m afraid I’m a bit too snobby for that. Also, where the hell am I going to get Goldschlager during a global pandemic and economic downturn? It’s just simple math.
Bourbon was another option, as this is a movie about a very, very stupid/disturbed American and there’s nothing more American than bourbon. Could have gone with “Shot’n’a Brew” with a shot of your favourite bourbon paired with a nice lager. But no. Simpler is better.
I discovered this drink ages ago and I don’t recall what it’s called or where I learned about it. But it’s easily my favorite way to drink vodka. Let’s call it an “Arctic Warmer.”
Notes on the Drink: It is literally the simplest drink in the world with two ingredients: vodka and black pepper. It is very subtle and spicy and I do enjoy it immensely. On the Vodka: I prefer a potato vodka for this drink, but don’t go crazy trying to find one. I’m using the Finlandia from above, which is a barley vodka. It’s fine but if I had my druthers it’d be made from ‘taters. And it must be as cold as you can possibly make it. If you have an ice sphere or giant cube, that’s VERY nice. Otherwise, stick with what you have. It’s a quarantine, after all. On the pepper: grind your own. This is essential.
Arctic Warmer
Vodka
Black peppercorns
Ice
Pour vodka over ice in a tumbler. Grind three turns of pepper over the ice. Swirl it, let it sit for one minute. Drink.
For more of Matthias’ cocktail creations (and some very tasty looking food) follow him on Instagram. He’s also answered our Meet the Members Q&A.
