Geeky Summer Cocktails

Geekery themed cocktails. Is there a better sentence in the English language? I didn’t think so. For your late afternoon summer parties or just an evening in with the TV, these cocktails are fun, different, and if you’re serving them up and people get the reference, then they’re clearly a top person.

Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster

First of all, the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, from the cult classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. In the film, it’s a drink that has the effect of feeling like you’re “having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon, wrapped ’round a large gold brick”. It’s also described as the alcoholic equivalent to mugging – expensive and bad for your head (it’s supposedly the equivalent to 10,000 units, but we’ll make it a bit less murderous).

Ingredients:

• 4 parts Bacardi Citron
• 1 part Bacardi 151 (for colour)
• 1 part Goldschlager
• 1 part Everclear (to cut Goldschlager)

Enjoy, and there’s no-one better to cheers this to than Zaphod Beeblebrox, winner of Worst Dressed Sentient Being in the Known Universe and The Best Bang Since The Big One. Oh, and he was also briefly President of the Universe.

Butterbeer

Next up, Butterbeer for all you Potterheads. Described in the book as a delicious drink that is the tiniest bit alcoholic (but enough to get the house elves falling over themselves), I’ve instead got an alcohol free recipe that the Muggles who aren’t old enough to get served yet can still drink.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cream soda
• ½ a cup of butterscotch syrup
• ½ a tablespoon of butter

Put the butterscotch syrup and the butter in a cup together, and then put them in the microwave for 1-1 ½ minutes, or until the butter is fully melted in. Slowly pour the mixture into the cream soda (the mixture will fizz quite a lot, creating that froth on top), and serve up in a mug. Perfect for autumn evenings or winter mornings!

Slusho!

A summer cooler based on the Star Trek drink ‘Slusho!’ seems appropriate for the delightful weather England’s treating us to at the moment. As far as I’m aware, it’s non-alcoholic in the film, but if you fancy spicing it up a bit, you could try adding a shot of Malibu to this fruity concoction.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of ice
• 1 cup of washed and hulled strawberries
• 1 banana
• 1 cup of orange juice

Basically, just stick it all in a blender and whir until it’s smooth. If you fancy making it even jazzier, add some bright food colouring for a more futuristic look.

Mudder’s Milk

So this next cocktail sounds odd, but it’s pretty simple, and stick with it, and I promise you won’t regret it! Mudder’s Milk from Firefly is really very easy to make. While I’d never put the two together, this mix is one my friends and I came up with a while back.

Ingredients:

• ⅔ cup of milk
• 2 shots of Malibu

And that’s it! Add the Malibu slowly while mixing it in, to avoid the risk of the milk curdling a little. Sounds weird if you haven’t tried it before, but it’s delicious.

Ent-draught

Finally, Ent-draught from Lord of the Rings. I have a slight confession to make – I have never seen Lord of the Rings. I know, I know, it’s a poor effort on my behalf. However, I did some research into how it was supposed to taste and have slightly adapted a recipe from Regional Cooking from Middle Earth: Recipes of the Third Age by Emerald Took.

Ingredients:

Soak a package of seaweed with juice from half a lemon for 2 hours. Add 1 cup ginger ale. Let sit, away from artificial light.

• 1 litre ginger ale
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• ¼ cup each lemon, lime juice
• 1 cup mango juice
• 1 ½ cup white grape juice
• 1 pint of whole strawberries, sliced
• 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
• (optional) ¾ cup Mountain Dew

Mix the seaweed mixture with ginger ale and the juices. Add in fruit, let sit for 30 minutes or more.

So, throw a geekery themed cocktail party, and have fun! Although be sure to leave the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster for only those with the hardiest of livers.