Party Time! - The It Came From Darkmoor Marvel UK cocktail list...

Greetings!

Well, I hope you all had a very suitably pleasing Christmas. I spent a fair chunk of mine catching up with old friends from my home town and my college days, who I generally only GET to see once a year these days, meeting up in the same old haunts for annual alcohol fuelled nostalgia. I was with my family (At home and at the homes of my extended family) for Christmas and Boxing Day, before getting on a train to visit Hannah's folks' up on Merseyside. A good, if not slightly busy, time all round.

But now New Year's is approaching. For the New Years' Blog this year I thought I'd do something a little bit special. Something which I and my erstwhile assistants began to scheme up while we were down in London earlier this month. We wanted to do something which was festive, but ultimately quite British, with a Marvel UK theme.

Well, we thought, what do the British do (Especially at Christmas) which we do particularly well? Almost too well...? Well, after the EATING we do have a rather strong habit of partaking in the ritual of DRINKING, leading to the inevitable getting state of getting a little bit MERRY.

Come, celebrate with me the noble British art of 'getting plastered' as we unveil...



Right, let's start off with a nice simple Cocktail, with a light green colour and an 80s vibe. We call it a Dragon's Claw. God, how we miss Dragon - The finest veteran retired sports expert that Earth 5555 ever had to offer.

For 1 Dragon's Claw you will need:

1 shot of Banana Bols
1 shot of Blue Bols
1 bottle of orange and vodka based alcopop.

Mix thoroughly until sufficiently green (hence the mix of blue and yellow liqueurs) and serve in a pint glass. Sports padding whilst drinking is optional.


The second drink on the list is a little combination we call a Captain Britain. A Captain Britain combination brings together probably Britain's two finest drinks in one sitting.

For a Captain Britain you will need:

1 pint of Brown House Ale, preferably from a British local brewery, served from a pump - not a tap, at room temperature - not chilled, for a strong crisp flavour free of silliness.

and

2 shots of Scotch as a chaser. A good scotch, mind. An old single malt from a trusted family source.

And no jokes about Brian (Allegedly) being an alcoholic. If your family members kept on dying on you you might be driven to a odd binge drink or two, yourself. But contrary to some people's belief the man DOES know his limits. He's very much a social drinker, under less grief-filled circumstances.

Moving on, we come to a drink which for the Captain's colleague at Military Intelligence, Section 13.

A Pete Wisdom:

In an ideal world Pete too would be represented here by a fine scotch.

But as Wisdom would doubtless be the first to point out this is NOT an ideal world.

Make it a whiskey - But as good a whiskey as you can find , at short notice, in a tough situation. And make sure you give him the whole bottle. It's only fair - he's had tough year. (But for God's sake no ice! - what are you, some kind of pervert!?)

Served best in a slightly dishevelled state, in a government safe house, protecting your lives from all manner of supernatural, extra-terrestrial and occult threats. And that's why we love the cynical bugger.



Here's one for the reckless. We call it a Black Axe. I'm sure you'll see why.

For one Black Axe you will need:

2 shots of Blavod
1 shot of Cointreau
1/2 shot of Campari and Banana
1/2 shot of Malibu
Dash of Lime Cordial

The mixture should then be topped up with Lemonade and served in a half pint glass. This fairly potent combination of spirits should have the desired effect of hitting the drinker very much like a blow from an infeasibly large black axe - some good foot taller than the gentleman wielding it. You have been warned.

Now, Here's a cocktail which Hannah came up with a couple of years ago. It's been a fair while since Marvel parted company with the Doctor Who franchise (More fool them), but thanks to the combined reprinting efforts of Panini and more recently IDW it has not been forgotten.

A Sonic Screwdriver is a twist on a more traditional Screwdriver(The vodka and orange based Cocktail and not a random household tool, that is). To make one you will need:

1 shots of Cointreau
1 shot of Vodka
1 shot of Blue Bols for colour.
And topped up with Lemonade.

Serve it in a pint glass. And if you happen to have a black light with you I'm told it does look rather good under UV.



And here's another one for the more destructive among you. Fancy a Death's Head?

This rather complex drink looks somewhat like it's been directly leached out of a cyborg, and packs a punch somewhat like being hit by one. For 1 Death's Head, you will need...

1/2 shot of Vodka
1/2 shot of Banana Bols
1/2 bottle of vodka and orange based alcopop.
1/2 bottle of vodka and tropical fruit flavoured alcopop.

Topped up with Blue Bols and Grenadine, and served in a pint glass.

I can't guarantee it will leave you with the cold metallic grin of a freelance peace-keeping agent, but if that still isn't enough for you you could always opt for:

A Death's Head II:

For one Death's Head II you will need

1 shot of Vodka
1 shot of Banana Bols
1 bottle of vodka and orange based alcopop.
1 bottle of vodka and tropical fruit flavoured alcopop.
Topped up with Blue Bols and Grenadine.

Served in TWO pint glasses.

You could kinda say it's like a Death's Head. Only a bit more hardcore.


Alternatively, for the less adventurous...

A Death's Head 3.0:

For one Death's Head 3.0 you will need

A dash of Blue Bols
A dash of Grenadine
Topped up with Lemonade
Served in a half pint glass

It looks somewhat reminiscent of a Death's Head but (Sadly) it's not quite as interesting, long term.

And finally:

A Dark Angel:

To make this fiery red-headed cocktail you will need:

1 shot of Gin
1 bottle of WKD Iron Brew
And a Dash of Grenadine.

Serve in a pint glass and curse the fact that while there's a whole big Cosmic Character revival going on at Marvel right now poor Dark Angel hasn't had a chance to be part of it, yet!

Maybe in 2009...


That's your lot, folks. Hope you enjoy that list. But remember, PLEASE drink responsibly. It kind of should go without saying but consuming a combination of some of these cocktails (Heck, A Death's Head II alone) is likely to have some kind of a degenerative effect on you. So please bare this in mind.

We're aiming to have some photos of these beauties up over the next few days. We'll be road testing a few tonight. Keep an eye out for those...

Hope you all have a great New Year. Thanks greatly for your support this year, and here's to 2009 and all the wonders it will bring!

See you on the other side (Of '08).

Mark
Sword)