Tampopo: The Simple Sake
Truck driver shows up, has a fight, teaches woman how to make noodles. So goes one of the greatest food comedies of all time. If this movie doesn’t make you hungry, you have no stomach. Prior to a home ramen feast, whet your appetite with this refreshing sake and gin cocktail created by Julien Salomone of Boutique on Church Street.
1 oz London dry gin
¾ oz junmai sake
¾ oz lemon juice
½ oz ginger syrup
Shake with ice and pour into a rocks glass.
Casino Royale: Vesper martini
It’s no secret that 007 likes his gin or vodka martinis shaken, not stirred, but this variation is Bond’s own creation, dating back to Ian Fleming’s 1953 Bond debut, Casino Royale. Daniel Craig orders one – named after the character Vesper Lynd – very precisely, in the 2006 film version.
1½ oz London dry gin
½ oz vodka
½ oz Lillet Blanc
Shake over ice, strain into a martini glass and add a lemon twist.
My Dinner With Andre: Amaretto sour
In what might be called an inaction movie, playwright and actor Wallace Shawn and theatre director Andre Gregory, playing themselves, sit, talk and eat dinner. You have to be there. Anyway, there’s lots of drinking, all of which is concluded nicely by Wally’s ordering an amaretto. Keep the conversation going with this classic.
1½ oz amaretto
¾ oz lemon juice
Shake with ice and strain into a small stemmed glass. Garnish with an orange slice.
The Big Lebowski: White Russian
It’s possible that certain non-alcoholic substances are more suitable for regular viewings of the Coen brothers masterpiece, but don’t forget about the Dude’s preferred cocktail. Also very good for people who like to get drunk but aren’t partial to the flavour of hard liquor.
1 oz Kahlua
2 oz vodka
Cream to taste
Pour over ice.
The Rum Diary: Cuba Libra
This occasionally gorgeous but ham-fisted retelling of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel, set in 1960 Puerto Rico, is awash with rum. Let us pay tribute to espadrilles, Wayfarers and the rise and fall of the American empire with the oft-maligned rum and coke, aka Cuba Libra. Without the lime and the ice, it’s just prom night poison.
Juice of ½ lime
2 oz light rum
Combine in a highball glass, fill with ice cubes, top with cola, garnish with a slice of lime.
The Solid Gold Cadillac: Golden Cadillac
Born in 1952 (happy 60th birthday!), the drink predates the film by four years, but they share a mid-century stylistic exuberance. The cocktail can be made in either a blender or a shaker. The movie is notable for its main ingredient, the brilliant Judy Holliday. Both can leave you sweetly intoxicated.
1 oz Galliano
1 oz crème de cacao
1 oz cream
Shake or blend with ice and serve in a coupe glass.
Blue Velvet: Michelada
Blue Velvet contains the ultimate cinematic beer reference: “What kind of beer do you like?” “Heineken.” “Fuck that shit. Pabst! Blue! Ribbon!” You may feel the same way about beer cocktails, but you haven’t tried this Mexican hangover cure. The recipe below approximates one consumed in Guadalajara. It didn’t cure the hangover. Nothing short of death would have. Blend together, in diminishing quantities, so as to fill a quarter of a glass:
Tomato juice
Lime juice
Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce
Salt
Chili powder
Top with light-flavoured North American lager beer. Stir.
Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo Di Ferragosto): The Sunset Limited*
In an affront to the Italian wine industry, this film’s main character drinks a lot of Chablis, the steely French Chardonnay that shouldn’t be mixed with anything. In the past, North Americans referred to any dryish white wine as Chablis. Here’s a modern take on a “Chablis” cocktail from that age of oenological innocence.
3 oz white port
Juice of half a lemon
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 oz soda water
Californian Chardonnay
Combine first four ingredients in a highball glass. Top with ice cubes and wine. Garnish with a mint sprig.
*Take two: the original recipe calls for domestic Muscatel, now unobtainable
