Things That Make You Go Hrrrrrrmmmmm….
Absurd, and sad August 28th, 2007
Newsweek online magazine has a piece on the trend of naming and developing cocktails inspired by the Iraqi Conflict. Intially, I wasn’t sure what to make of this; as the article mentions, the idea of taking a fun-loving and irreverant concept such as cocktails and applying it as an ironic homage to wartime seems crass at best. However, as it goes on to discuss, the origin of war-inspired cocktails has a long and storied history including such fine (and lasting) concoctions as Artillery Punch and the French 75. That led me to my next reaction, appreciative mirth. Thinking of a cocktail named ‘WMD’ or ‘Guantanamo Bay Breeze’ suddenly comes to represent one of the best qualities of the American spirit; an eternally optimistic view of what’s next and how we’ll all survive to see better times in which we’ll drink said drinks and toast those not with us.
It’s an interesting read; in the meantime I’m off to make my ‘Freedom 77′, a mixture of Applejack, orange juice, and Andre Cold Duck. Click here to read it, if you didn’t click above already.
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Freedom 77…haha…that makes me giggle.
They used to name cocktails after celebs but i can NOT imagine drinking a ‘Britney Spears’ or a ‘Lindsay Lohan’.
oh, you should make a ‘dont ask, dont tell’!
Fuckin’ A! That’s a brilliant idea. The garnish possibilities alone make the mind reel…will you marry me?
I don’t know—there’s something that seems a little crass about naming a drink the Guantanamo Bay Breeze while there are still prisoners there, though I do like the concept behind the WMD.
I’m definitely ambivalent towards the whole thing and any positive feeling I have about it comes from cocktail appreciation and understanding how cocktails can serve as a salve to collective societal discomfort and reflect the zeitgeist.
From a political standpoint, well, I’m pissed at the travesty of it all.
YES!….come home.