I Need Drinks Inspired by Famous Authors

January 4, 2007 6:54 PM

I am hosting a literary drinking game party tomorrow night and I need author-themed drinks! Can you suggest some?

I'm hosting a drinking game tomorrow night where the participants (a group of former English majors) drink for every great work of English literature they dodged reading in high school and college.

I would like to make mini-shots (.75 oz) that are inspired by authors. So far I'm going to be making a Hemingway strained mojito and a Faulkner baby mint julep. Any other suggestions?

[There's a book out right now (Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers) that would be perfect but it's not available by me.]

posted by jmprice to food & drink (24 comments total)

A few recipes from the book you mentioned are posted here.
posted by missmerrymack at 7:04 PM on January 4, 2007

How about something grape and/or wine related for John Steinbeck (Grapes Of Wrath).
posted by amyms at 7:05 PM on January 4, 2007

Rye Whiskey shots for J.D. Salinger (The Catcher In The Rye).
posted by amyms at 7:09 PM on January 4, 2007

Tequila Mockingbird
posted by Robot Johnny at 7:10 PM on January 4, 2007 [5 favorites]

Patrick O'Brian: grog, or port.
posted by migurski at 7:21 PM on January 4, 2007

Not sure how it got the name, but there's a Great Gatsby.
posted by Partial Law at 7:22 PM on January 4, 2007

Patrick O'Brian: grog, or port.

Or Madeira!
posted by Miko at 7:24 PM on January 4, 2007

Mead for Beowulf

Tom Collinses for Salinger - Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters

"Victory" Gin with cloves for Orwell
posted by samsarah at 7:24 PM on January 4, 2007

Robot Johnny!! Hands down winner (groan)
posted by kch at 7:26 PM on January 4, 2007

Have you seen this?
posted by Miko at 7:26 PM on January 4, 2007

Smoking Bishop!
posted by jbickers at 7:30 PM on January 4, 2007

Robot Johnny, I'm going to steal that.
posted by lekvar at 7:32 PM on January 4, 2007

Daquiri for Hemingway! Even if he didn't really invent it. Wikipedia says he had a version of it named after him with grapefruit juice instead of sugar because he was diabetic.
posted by nursegracer at 7:42 PM on January 4, 2007

Turn of the Screwdriver for Henry James?
posted by thisjax at 7:43 PM on January 4, 2007

Hemingway himself suggested absinthe, but I suppose you could substitute Pernod or something similar.
posted by littlegreenlights at 7:48 PM on January 4, 2007

Before I realized you were just looking for shots I was also going to suggest a Margarita Atwood.
posted by Robot Johnny at 7:50 PM on January 4, 2007

Most anything can be made into a shot... Especially since there's an awful lot of slackers into our mix, drinks that I can covert into weak shots are great. I'm going to make a Margarita Atwood.
posted by jmprice at 8:09 PM on January 4, 2007

Dostoevsky - Vodka
Graham Greene - Vermouth Cassis
John Dos Passos - Manhattan
James Joyce - Guinness
Dorothy Parker - Gin martini
Homer - Sea-dark wine
(And after that, you can use snot-green wine for Joyce)
Gin Miltonic
The (Tristram) Shandy
posted by jacobm at 8:57 PM on January 4, 2007

Thanks for your help everyone. I finalized my drink list:

Tequila Mockingbird (real drink: tequila, lemon juice, creme de menthe)
The Great Gatsby (real drink: gin, vodka, sweet vermouth, lemon juice)
The Scarlet Letter Jello Shots (vodka, jello)
Grapes of Wrath (grape-infused caipiroska/caipirinha)
Tristam Shandy (shandy: beer, lemonade)
Margarita Atwood (tequila, triple sec, lime juice, sugar)
Turn of the Screwdriver (vodka, orange juice)

P.S. jacobm, I thought of the shandy thirty seconds before I saw your response. Great minds drink alike.

P.P.S. I would have liked to go with historical veracity for author's tastes but they're too damn expensive.

P.P.P.S. Rejected drink: Moby Dick (blow job shot: Bailey's, amaretto, whip cream)
posted by jmprice at 9:04 PM on January 4, 2007

'alf a Miller.
posted by Jofus at 5:36 AM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Samuel Beckett -- Empty Glass

On Preview: Oops to late....
posted by Jeff_Larson at 7:16 AM on January 5, 2007

"I've had 18 straight whiskies. I think that's the record."
posted by box at 7:38 AM on January 5, 2007

Since it's going to be a drinking party, arrange beforehand for sober drivers. You might even call a car service to have their drivers dropped off at your house, drive they guests home in their own cars and be picked up by the service.

One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor.

By the way, Dylan Thomas discovered near the end of his life that he had diabetes, which causes unquenchable thirst. That's why he drank so much, and by the time he found out, he was physically hooked on alcohol.
posted by KRS at 1:15 PM on January 5, 2007

I believe the Hemingway daiquiri was called a 'Papa Doble'. The wife says he was fond of mojitos too.
posted by Happy Dave at 5:09 PM on January 5, 2007