Cocktail Of The Week: The Letters "V" and "W." Vicious Sid & What The Hell?

 

My cocktail of the week project is starting to wind down now. I am at the tail end of the alphabet, and the choices are becoming more narrow. I can't wait until I hit the letter "X." This week the "V" cocktail is called Vicious Sid after Sid Vicious, formerly a member of the punk group, The Sex Pistols, formerly a mortal.




Sid's real name was John Simon Ritchie, but he was renamed by band member John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), after Lydon's pet hamster "Sid the Vicious" who had a habit of biting people. Sid the Human had some equally nasty habits. Prior to his departure from the Sex Pistols, Sid made a notable recording of Frank Sinatra's My Way. Personally? I always enjoyed his rendition of Eddie Cochran's song called Something Else, because he sings it like a really dumb American teenager.  Sid is often remembered for his relationship with an American girl called Nancy Spungen (an early Courtney Love influence), whom he wound up stabbing to death in the Chelsea Hotel (222 West 23rd Street)in New York City.  Months after this occurrence, he was found dead from a drug overdose of heroin purchased for him by his mother.  Let's put on the oh-so-cheer and seasonal Lou Reed's Chelsea Girls while we toast Sid.  Here's his cocktail:

                                     Vicious Sid Cocktail

                               1 1/2 ounces light rum

                                      1/2 ounce peach liqueur

                                       1/2 ounce triple sec

                                       1 ounce lemon juice

                                       1 dash bitters

                   Shake with ice and serve in a martini glass

                                 

                                        Vicious Sid Cocktail

                                      "I'll drink it My Way"

The "W" cocktail is called What the Hell, and it reminded me of this devil ornament I have on my Christmas tree. Some of you may have seen those old-fashioned German ornaments for sale shaped like fruits and vegetables, the birds with the feathered tails, cottages and acorns. They are often reproduced off of antique molds and each has symbolic meaning.

An acorn ornament, for example, represents not only the oak tree, considered sacred in Germany, but also the coming of Christ, and his rebirth.  Bird ornaments are symbolic of harbingers of good things to come, and then there is one rarely seen ornament in this country called Krumpus--a devil's head.


                                            Krumpus

In Medevial times there were roaming bands of performers who would put on Paradise Plays during the Christmas and Solstice season. These plays depicted life and death, The Garden of Eden, and good and evil. They also included depictions of Saint Nicholas and his roving band of servants. Apple ornaments were symbolic in Germany of paradise, the temptation of evil and many glassblowers showed the apple cut in half to reflect the star pattern in the fruit which represented Christ's birth "star," as well as the seeds of fruitfulness for the coming year.

I was lucky enough one year to find a Krumpus ornament, and I have had people comment on how odd it is to see a devil's head on a Christmas tree. During the Paradise Plays, representation of the devil was to remind the revelers of the dangers of living an unholy life, and Krumpus reminded little boys and girls that he was there to punish those who misbehaved during the past year.  I find it interesting that the devil's head mold used to reproduce these ornaments is one of the earliest made when glassblowers started making these symbolic images for Christmas.

                               "I've got your number, Cube"

                                                  " No gifts for you"

There is also a pickle ornament, another thing you rarely see on a tree, and the ritual behind this ornament is that you place it first on the tree, hidden, and that the person who finds it on Christmas morning gets an extra gift from Saint Nicholas. I was telling a friend about this tradition this past week, and he shot me a look. I knew where he was going with this. He said,  "A hidden Christmas pickle, huh? That gift may take nine months for delivery."

Here is the What the Hell cocktail in honor of Krumpus and being good during the holidays, prior to Santa Claus' arrival.


                                      What The Hell Cocktail

                             1 ounce dry vemouth
                             1 ounce gin
                             1 ounce apricot brandy
                             1 dash lemon juice
                             1 dash grenadine

          Shake with ice and serve in an old-fashioned glass*


                                   What the Hell Cocktail

                          "Hot toddys at my place next time?"

 

* When I had my cocktail made up, I used a wine glass for photographic purposes. I also asked for two strawberries. I cut two little holes on either side, near the top of the first berry, and a slot along it's base so it could be put onto the edge of the glass. I then cut two little horns from the second strawberry to insert into the first, making a tiny strawberry devil's head for the drink.


Again, mucho thanks to my brother for his Photoshop work. He was complaining to me about the quality of my photography in terms of light and focus on the cocktails. I said, "Give me a break. I am not shooting these in a photography studio. I'm in a bar, for God's sake." He told me the Vicious Sid collage was one of the hardest things he's worked on recently, requiring forty layers and the dissembling of the cocktail glass to rework in an imaginary straw and other patterns.Is he dedicated, or what?

I would like to remind readers that there is a blog called DC Drinks which describes itself as "Reviews, rantlets, and ribald on all things alcoholic." DC Drinks

                                          Oi!   Cheers!                                           

 

***  Remember:  You can also find Washington Cube at:

Washington Cube     http://washingtoncube.blogspot.com/