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I love Jane Austen. My favorite book is Emma. I love the romance, the drama, and the humor that she put in her books. For cocktails, I like to look at Jane Austen as an inspiration of women in their different forms and love in its' complexities. In honor of Valentines Day, I want to focus on the romantic ideals and couples of Jane Austen's couples. While she wrote more books, I used my favorite three to create cocktails that you can use on your next booze and books night or your Valentine's Day cocktail hour.
Emma and Knightley
Champagne Cocktail
My favorite Jane Austen novel is Emma. It was the first one I read in high school and instantly felt like a character I could attach to. I am very much like Emma in that I grew up sheltered, with a well off family, and a happy home. I can be stubborn and selfish but can also be very passionate and loving. Since Emma is such a favorite for me, I've included one of my favorite cocktail ingredients: Champagne.
Ingredients
Blanc de Blanc Champagne
1 1/2 oz Citron Vodka
1 oz Chambord
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey
Garnish: Lemon Peel
Recipe: In a shaker with ice, pour citron vodka, chambord, lemon juice, and honey. Shake until cold (about 30 seconds). Pour into a chilled coupe glass. Top with blanc de blanc champagne. Garnish with a lemon peel.
Bingley's bliss
Gin cocktail
In Pride and Prejudice, the main storyline is focused on Elizabeth and Darcy. As much as I love those two, my favorite couple is the quiet sufferers of Bingley and Jane. They fall in love quickly and are quick to meet with problems and meddling family members. It's an unfortunate twist for the couple but in the end, all is resolved and they live happily ever after together. This book with its' twist of sweet and bitter that makes me think of marrying those flavor in a cocktail.
Ingredients
2 oz Gin
1 oz Creme de Mure
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
Garnish: Blackberries
Recipe: In a shaker with ice, pour gin, creme de mure, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Shake until cold. Pour into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with blackberries.
Captain Wentworth's letter
Whiskey old fashioned
If you haven't read Persuasion, you probably don't get the reference but we all deserve a letter from our lover. Persuasion is a book about a woman who chooses to ignore her heart because of her family and realizes the regret and loneliness that the choice has left her with. When she meets her old love again, she goes on a trip of self discovery and works to win him back and take control of her life. I love that the book takes the woman not only getting her love but also seeing the fact that you should make your destiny not someone else. In that sense, I went with a powerful but not loud cocktail. Perfect for a day at the seaside thinking about an old memory.
Ingredients
2 oz bourbon whiskey (or Tennessee whiskey)
1 oz blood orange liqueur
1 oz creme de cassis
3 dashes of angostura bitters
One sugar cube
Garnish: Blood Orange Peel
Recipe: In a mixing glass, pour whiskey, blood orange liqueur, and creme de cassis. Stir. In an old fashioned glass, Muddle sugar cube and angostura bitters. Pour from mixing glass. Add large ice cube and garnish with a blood orange peel.
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