[Download full 11x17 GOLDENCOCKTAILMILE]When I met Alastair Walker at The Everleigh in the Fitzroy District of Melbourne this past November, I couldn't have predicted that a week later he'd have come up with 12 cocktails inspired by the 12 pubs in Edgar Wright's "The World's End". As I sat at the bar chatting with him the film came up--he recounted going with a friend who'd gotten tickets for "This Is The End"--somehow the two guys had been talking about the two different, similarly named films, something I'd speculated must have happened at some point. Apparently it wasn't the ideal set-up for enjoying Franco, Rogen & Baruchel when you were primed for Pegg, Frost & Freeman. That led us to talking about the Edgar Wrightini and the stunt shot "The World's End" we'd done with Jacob Briars. I sat at the bar, enjoying my first-ever Woolworth after the longest series of flights I'd ever endured, I mentioned that I thought there was still room to create homage drinks for "The World's End", 12 possibilities, in fact--the pubs, and the pub names, all totally sounded like drinks already. Alastair said he'd look over the list and after just a couple emails back and forth he'd come up with 12. All recipes are below and there's a rather nice 11x17 downloadable poster we've made: Download GOLDENCOCKTAILMILE. We were definitely inspired by Wright making available a downloadable poster of the Golden Mile map (2 sided!) for anyone who fancyed being Gary King for Halloween.
The pub names do indeed work remarkably well for cocktails. In some cases these are drinks Alastair was working on and was kicking about for names already, some started with the pub name, and one or two are pre-existing cocktails that just work too well with the name not to be borrowed. A case in point is "The World's End" (A.K.A. Better Then A.K.A. Jayne Fonder) as its both fiery (to the palate) and blue which just fits the bill too perfectly. There are a number of cocktails utilizing ale, naturally. I think the thematic resonances of all the drinks are clear when you read through them. I'm sure Alastair would be more than happy to make any (or all) of them for you at The Everleigh, but if you're not lucky enough to be in Melbourne in the near future your friendly neighborhood bartender should be able to easily recreate them with these recipes. Properly outfittted of course, one could make them at home. And one hopes one is and one does.
We wanted throw a little spotlight on the artwork of the signs themselves in this project. One thing I hadn't known that came out of a little research was that Wright's brother Oscar was involved in their develoment and is a frequent collaborator. That was neat to discover both because brothers working together is obviously cool; then there's the fact that parents naming their kids "Edgar" and "Oscar" is quite rad. There are meanings to both the pub names and the details in the artwork; forums on Wright's site go into some elaborate theorizing about the significance of the names and the signs. Like a chinese box the film just seems to have more and more layers as you revisit it and delve deeper. As far as who is responsible for the signs themselves, Marcus Rowland, the inspired production designer for the film explained, "Like all film making it's a collaborative venture, starting with Edgar then me, followed by ideas from Oscar and our graphics person Georgina Millett, & finally scenic painter Barnaby Gorton pulls it all together."
Many thanks to Alastair Walker for the creativity, and Michael Madrusan of The Everleigh, for participating in this rather extravagant liquid homage. And a huge thank you to Greg Needham who put the poster together with considerable inspiration and patience And for anyone who may wonder why the tagline for the poster is " A Liquid Repast for The World's End", please refer to the clip below, which also serves as a neat summary of the 12 stops along the Golden Mile. Jason Rowan
THE FIRST POST
1 1/2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. Suze
1 oz. Lime
3/4 oz. Simple
2 dashes of absinthe
Soda top
Light shake, served tall over ice with a lime wedge garnish
THE OLD FAMILIAR
1 1/2 oz. Aged Rum
1/2 oz. Jamaican Rum
Brown sugar cube
Pinch of salt
2 dashes of angostura bitters
Served on the rocks, with a orange twist
(A.K.A The S.C.O.F. (Salted Caramel Old Fashioned))
THE FAMOUS COCK
1 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. lemon
1/2 oz. simple
Egg white
Amber ale top
Dry shake, wet shake, served in a fizz glass with the beer top
(A.K.A. Andy Shandy)
THE CROSS HANDS
2 oz. Scotch
1 oz. Cocchi Americano Rosa
3 dashes of orange bitters
Stirred down and served in a coupe, lemon twist garnish
THE GOOD COMPANION
1 oz. Irish whiskey
1 oz. Cognac
Brown sugar cube
2 dashes of orange bitters
Served on the rocks, lemon twist
(A.K.A 4/3rds)
THE TRUSTY SERVANT
2 oz. oz. Aged Rum
1/2 oz. oz. Dry vermouth
1/2 oz. oz. Cynar
Stirred down and served in a coupe, orange twist
(A.K.A The Right Hand Man)
THE TWO HEADED DOG
1 1/2 oz. Aged Rum
3/4 oz. White Cacao
3/4 oz. Kola tonic
3/4 oz. Cream
Egg yolk
Dry shake, wet shake, served in a flip glass and garnished with nutmeg
THE MERMAID
2 oz. Genever
3/4 oz. Lime
3/4 oz. Pomegranate molasses (cut with simple)
Cucumber
Shaken, and served in a coupe, garnished with black pepper on top
(A.K.A The Intrepid Fox-We threw in this teaser poster to the mix because A. "Intrepid Fox" is just great and B. Can't ever hurt to have some Rosamund Pike in the mix.))
THE BEE HIVE
1 oz. Bourbon
3/4 oz. lemon
3/4 oz. Honey
Pale ale top
Light shake, served tall over ice, topped with the pale ale
(A.K.A The Beerhive)
THE KING'S HEAD
2 oz. Irish whiskey
3/4 oz. Lime
3/8 oz. Pomegranate molasses (cut with simple)
3/8 oz. Campari
Shaken, served in a coupe, garnished with a lime wedge
(A.K.A Crazy Eyes)
THE HOLE IN THE WALL
2 oz. Scotch
3/4 oz. Suze
1/4 oz. Grand Marnier
Stirred down, served in a coupe, orange twist garnish.
THE WORLD'S END
2 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Lime
3/8 oz. Curaçao
3/8 oz. Agave
3 Dashes of hot sauce (Cholula)
Light shake, served on the rocks, garnished with a lime wedge
(A.K.A Better than (Jayne Fonder))
THE WORLD'S END PUB SIGNS & THE GOLDEN COCKTAIL MILE
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