Birds, Books and Bourbon

Last weekend, we attended our first beverage festival since early 2020, “Whiskey Wine and Fire” in Cary, NC. Koka Booth Amphitheatre’s first outside festival of the year unfortunately coincided with Hurricane Ophelia’s assault on the east coast, leaving us with a wet festival ground, a few struggling campfires, and a leak in our four-year-old roof. Along the way, I discovered a delicious new whiskey from our local Old Raleigh Distillery that I will use in an upcoming bourbon cocktail and partook of a couple of s’mores. While the scarcity of vendors and inability to purchase any of the wines or alcohol sampled was unfortunate, the tasty food bites offered to us VIP ticket holders did not disappoint. Hamlet’s doomed drowned lover Ophelia was the inspiration for this week’s cocktail, its literary accompaniment, and a featured bird quoted in the famous tragedy.

“There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow”… Hamlet’s quote is to now hopefully ease my guilty conscience over all the wild birds who inadvertently hit the glass patio doors on our deck. The chipping sparrow is one of the braver birds at our feeders, often waiting a few feet away while I refill the seed mix. Mainly seed eaters, they will also eat protein-rich insects as evidenced by the mealworm in one’s mouth in my photo roll. The adults are identified by their rusty caps with a black eyeline and solid grey-white belly. Their habitat spans all of North America where they inhabit tree-lined backyards and forest edges.

The hungry fledgling has a streaked breast and crown. While this photo was taken earlier in the summer, I saw a late baby just a couple of weeks ago doing the same “feed me” squawks and dance.

The Drowned Ophelia is a cocktail I adapted from a recipe described in Shakespeare, Not stirred: cocktails for your everyday dramas by Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim. I adjusted the ratios of ingredients to temper the sweetness and produce a balanced sour cocktail more to my liking. You could increase the simple syrup if you prefer a sweeter beverage. I garnished with edible flowers and a sugar rim in lieu of the egg wash/ sugar dust atop the flowers described in the original recipe.

Gather your ingredients: Vodka (Weldon Mills House Vodka), Elderflower liqueur (St. Germain), Blue Curacao, cane syrup, lemon, flowers and sugar (not shown) for garnish. Cocktail shaker, lemon squeezer and jigger/ measuring spoon or scale (not shown) and a coupe or martini glass complete the set up.

Accompanying my turquoise delight was my reread of one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies. I actually enjoyed ‘Hamlet’ more this time than in ninth grade (who would have thunk?) and even completed the play during my lunch breaks this week. Enjoy, and remember to please drink responsibly 🙂