Captain Marvel: The HFF (Higher, Further, Faster) Cocktail

Post by Matt

As is tradition around here, when I’m really excited about an upcoming super hero movie, I tend to celebrate by creating a cocktail to celebrate the character. I think my most successful cocktails have been for Wonder Woman and Doctor Strange, but I had the most fun trying to figure out a worthy cocktail for Black Panther.

We’ve had our tickets to Captain Marvel since January 7, so to say I’m excited for the movie is a bit of an understatement. When I asked the Clockwatching Tart about what cocktail she thought we should make to celebrate Ms. Danvers, I told her her main colours were red, blue and gold and that the movie’s tagline was “Higher, Further, Faster”. Her immediate response was “Champagne and Cognac” because “it has a nice gold colour and is strong as heck, straight forward, and classy”. Who am I to argue against that logic?

To make things interesting, we decided to try three variations of a French 75, which is Champagne and Cognac with simple syrup and lemon juice. For the first version, we went with the classic and just added a cherry for a splash of red in honour of Captain Marvel.

Add the following into a cocktail shaker with ice:

¼ ounce (1 ½ teaspoons) lemon juice

¼ ounce (1 ½ teaspoons) simple syrup

1 ounce (30 ml / two tablespoons) Cognac (we used Remy Martin VSOP)

Shake and then pour the liquid into a chilled Champagne flute and top with:

4 ounces of Champagne (we substituted French sparkling wine from just outside the Champagne region, because… money)

Garnish with a lemon twist and a cherry and enjoy! The Clockwatching Tart and I found the cocktail dangerously easy to enjoy with a nice balance between the brighter notes of the lemon and the depth and complexity of the cognac. We agreed that if you ordered it at a fancy cocktail bar, you wouldn’t be disappointed.

The Clockwatching Tart loves cider and recently came across a beautiful bottle of Calvados, which is French Apple Brandy. My favourite Ontario winery is Cave Springs from the Jordan area near Niagara. Their Dolomite has a beautiful limestone minerality to it that I absolutely love, so we decided to see if they would make a successful variation of a French 75. We prepared it the exact same way, but substituted Calvados for Cognac and Cave Springs for the previous Brut. While it would be great on a summer day and was nicely aromatic, it lacked the depth of the original and wasn’t quite as good.

Our final variation substituted Dillon’s cherry gin for both the lemon juice and the simple syrup. While it was a valiant effort, there was just too much going on with everything the gin brought to the table and it wasn’t worthy of Captain Marvel (or our palettes).

In the end, there was only one drink worthy of the Higher, Further, Faster name (and inclusion in our regular cocktail rotation): the original French 75 with a cherry. Cheers to Brie Larson and her fight for underrepresented voices and to Captain Marvel laying waste to the box office and all the trolls.

 

Happy Hour - Punch Romaine

Have you ever watched the TV show Hannibal?  If not, you should! The first two seasons are available on Netflix, and the the way they film food is unbelievable.  The final season is wrapping up on NBC right now.  It's not a spoiler to reveal that earlier this season Hannibal, played wonderfully by Mads Mikkelsen, mixes Punch Romaine to serve to his guests.

Punch Romaine was one of the last things served to first class passengers on the Titanic before it sank.  

It's an icy cocktail of rum, orange, wine, champagne and egg whites.  Here's what you need to make one cocktail:

1 egg white
1 oz white rum
1 oz white wine
1/2 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
2 oz champagne (or sparkling wine)
twist of orange peel for garnish

You'll also need crushed ice, a cocktail shaker and a cocktail coupe to serve.  I used the cocktail glass above.  

I used my blender to crush the ice, which worked very well.  Mound the ice in the glass just like an iceberg.  My crazy husband thought staging these pictures in front of a picture of the Titanic would be fun.  

Shake the egg white, rum, wine, simple syrup, lemon juice and orange juice together in a cocktail shaker with ice until frothy and chilled.  

Pour the cocktail into the glass and top with champagne and orange peel.  Enjoy in calm weather.  

This cocktail was surprisingly light and tasty. It would be a great palate cleanser between courses at a fancy dinner, or a cooling treat on a hot night while watching your favourite TV show.  Cheers!