The Cocktailians tend to be Jeopardy! fans; co-author Tony Hightower is, as has been previously noted here, a former J! champion who mentioned this li'l ol' blog in one of his chats with Alex. (And, your humble correspondent was a Season 17 one-and-done.) Of course, one of our favorite categories would have to be Potent Potables.
So here's the story on my @jeopardy TOCktails:
— Austin Tyler Rogers (@austintylerro) November 2, 2022
The SuperChamp mule is inspired by Matt's CT being home state of the Moscow mule, modified for Mattea with a Canadian Rye and floated on top with the national drink of the Bay Area for Amy: Fernet Branca.
The other one is purple. pic.twitter.com/Si50gAA8xA
Which made us especially interested when the show posted this lineup of "TOCktails" themed to the show's currently airing Tournament of Champions. The drinks were created by 12-game superchamp Austin Rogers: trivia host, bartender, and owner of the Gaf West bar in Manhattan. The first drink, the Super-Champ Mule, was inspired by the geographic origins of the three biggest superchamps of Seasons 37 and 38: Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, and Mattea Roach. (They each got a first-round bye in the TOC, and played an exhibition game tonight.) As Austin explains it:
Austin, the owner of the Gaf West in Manhattan, looked to Matt Amodio’s hometown of Hartford, Conn., to come up with the base for the first cocktail, the Super-Champ Mule.
“I did not know the Moscow Mule had origins in Connecticut,” Austin said. “But that’s the beauty of being a Jeopardy! fan—you get to figure these things out as you go along.”
To put a Tournament of Champions twist on the classic mule recipe of vodka, ginger beer and lime juice, Austin turned to Mattea Roach’s home country of Canada.
“Canada is really famous for their rye [whiskeys], so the next part is we take out the vodka from the mule and supplant it with a nice hardy Canadian rye,” Austin said.
To balance out the recipe, Austin added a bit of Amy Schneider’s hometown of Oakland into the mix with a dash of Fernet-Branca, an Italian-style bitters that’s widely enjoyed in the Bay Area.
“The Bay Area consumes more fernet than anywhere else in the world except for maybe Argentina,” Austin explained.
Super-Champ Mule
- 2 oz. rye
- ½ oz. fresh lime juice
- ½ oz. honey syrup (honey diluted in hot water 1:1)
- Ginger beer
- ½ oz. Fernet-Branca
Shake rye, lime, and honey syrup, strain into highball glass with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and float Fernet-Branca on top, garnish with lime wedge.
I did some tweaks to this recipe; the original mixed "parts" of rye with half-ounce measurements of the lime, honey syrup, and fernet. I think Rogers meant to use ounce measurements throughout. I also switched the mixing method from the originally-specified stir to a shake since it incorporated citrus juice. Also, I wasn't aware that the Moscow Mule originated in Connecticut; there are varying stories, but most seem to agree that John Martin, president of the Heublein Company of Hartford (which imported Smirnoff vodka), got together with Jack Morgan of the Cock N' Bull Tavern in Hollywood (which produced (and still produces) ginger beer), and came up with the recipe, which is essentially a Mamie Taylor with vodka subbed for Scotch. This happened either at New York's Chatham Hotel or at the Cock N' Bull in Hollywood, but at any rate it was mentioned in the press as early as December 1942.
Rogers also supplied a low-abv version of this drink, using strong tea instead of rye, and vanilla extract instead of Fernet-Branca; I didn't try it but think that tea may not substitute well for whiskey on its own. Also, a warning to the teetotal (such as J! host Ken Jennings): half an ounce of vanilla extract isn't exactly alcohol-free (vanilla extract has to be at least 35% alcohol per federal law, the same 70 proof as Southern Comfort or Captain Morgan!) And, vanilla extract has a really strong flavor! I'd think I might go with ginger beer, aromatic bitters, and a squeeze of lime.
The other drink, served at J! 5-game champ Tyler Rhode's watch party for his own Tournament of Champions game (and mixed up by Alexa Geltzeiler) was a little different; as Rogers explained it, he was thinking of a drink to match one of Jeopardy!'s colors, and got some assistance from Gaf West mixologist Corey. "The second drink I was actually averse to. . .I did not want to make a drink that emulated the colors of Jeopardy! because I think colored drinks are cheesy. But better wisdom prevailed, and Corey said 'let me convince you to go otherwise.' . . . It's got a nice rich purple color, which is a Jeopardy! legacy color, and a cool frothy top. I think it's just sweet enough that it'll be [palatable] to the people out there who have a sort of sweet tooth for their cocktail but it's definitely boozy enough for someone who wants to get a kick out of it."
Make It A True Daily Double
- 2 oz. vodka
- 1 oz. creme de cassis
- ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
- ½ oz. triple sec
- dash grenadine
Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass, garnish with lemon wedge.
I also haven't tried this one as I'm not generally a fan of vodka drinks, but it seems like it'd be tasty and fruity, as long as there's enough lemon to keep all the sugary ingredients in balance.
Enjoy your Daily Double Shot!