A Thirst for Board Games...

This week's cocktail night was a little different than in past weeks. We decided to try to combine two of our very favorite occupations... cocktailing and gaming. Using some of our favorite board games as inspiration, we created some new drink recipes by translating the games' devices and themes into a liquid form. I think we've succeeded-- or rather, WON!

(super thanks to Slouching Squirrel from BGG)

Puerto Rico

Think of Puerto Rico's famous plantations, humid nights filled with sounds... and lots of rum. Puerto Rico is a game about developing plantation lands on your part of the island, and erecting buildings to act as village centers in and around your plantations. We wanted to create a drink that matched our idea of Puerto Rico and included coffee, sugar, rum, and a corn-based liquor... some of the types of plantations in the game. What we came up with is a coffee drink (great for after dinner) with a few rummy twists.

Plantation Coffee

Brew coffee
1 ounce bourbon
1 ouce dark rum

4 ounces strong, black coffee

Add crystallized sugar stirrer

May add espresso beans

(for maximum effect, smoke a cigar while you're drinking it)

Orient Express

We chose this game because of its cosmopolitan 1920s, Agatha Christie atmosphere.  It evokes the famous Hercule Poirot mystery Murder on the Orient Express-- and plays in a way that parallels the story.  Each player conducts the sort of investigation that Poirot might have conducted  upon learning there was a murderer aboard the speeding train. By moving from room to room, each player gathers information and alibis pertaining to a handful of suspects. Eventually, one player will have completed his or her investigation and be prepared to make an accusation.

A game with such a deliciously vintage feel deserves a drink that is elegant and celebratory, but also simple (in keeping with the cocktails of that era)—the sort of cocktail that would complement a bias-cut gown or a pair of spats.

The Porter Did It

1 ounce of port into a flute glass

Add sparkling peach cider

May garnish with peach slice

Mr. Jack  

Is one of the best strategy games to appear in years. Set in Victorian London, Mr. Jack (an obvious reference to Jack the Ripper) is brutalizing women in back alleys and gas lit lanes.  This is a two-player game, so one player is Mr. Jack and the other is the investigator. A cast of local characters are also roaming the streets, occasionally cathing site of Mr. Jack, extinguishing lamplight, and  blocking off roads. The object is to identify and capture Mr. Jack before he completes his one-man crime wave and escapes.  Mr. Jack already has two expansions—the first with a collection of new characters-- including folklorish characterws like Spring-heeled Jack, Pizer the butcher (styled after 'Leather Apron', one of the contemporary suspects). By the second expansion, Mr. Jack has arrived in New York and is beginning to butcher American prostitutes, for a change of pace.

There is even a ‘pocket’ version of Mr. Jack (still a two-player game) but it plays amazingly well, and allows you to bring Jack along wherever you go—what a thought.

 Jack the Ripped

1 ounce Jack Daniels

1 ounce of Beefeater gin

squeeze of lemon

Add ice cubes

disclaimer... This drink came out like something the people of 1890s Whitechapel would have loved, but we think it's better to chose the gin or the jack. The combination of the two devalued the taste of both (for us)

Arkham Horror

There was no leaving Arkham Horror out, not just because it’s one of our all-time favorite games, but more importantly, we couldn’t miss a chance to bring one of our favorite writers, H.P. Lovecraft, into the living room.

Lovecraft, an early 20th century horror writer from Providence, Rhode Island is best known for his stories of eldritch horrors, Great Gods, and generally scary monsters. Using New England villages as his settings, Lovecraft transformed small, coastal jewel box towns like Newburyport and Salem into hellish portals through which demons and alien races were able to infiltrate and conquer these sleepy little villages. Besides being Harry Houdini's ghost writer, Lovecraft was a prolific writer, an innovator, and unique. The most famous sci-fi and horror writers of today (like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman) site Lovecraft as a major influence.

This drink is inspired by Lovecraft's most famous creation: the Great Cthulhu (an enormous green, bat-winged god with the face of an octopus).

The Eldritch Horror

1 ounce Reine Claude syrup (sweet lemonade concentrate)

1 ounce mojito mix

1 ounce creme de menthe
1 ounce Curacao

2 ounces tequila

Shake over ice

 Add gummy worms for garnish

(note our Deana and Arjen investigator cards in the foreground) 

Race for the Galaxy

I never, in a million years, thought that I would LOVE a game about space. There are no murderers, no cozy cottages, no pretty pieces in this game.  Just about a thousand cards depicting planets, alien civilizations, spaceships, and futuristic technologies. This game is so strong on strategy, and is absolutely different every time. There are a thousand strategies to adopt, but to be successful at it, you must be prepared to change your tactics according to the cards in your hand--- a thing that’s easier said than done. The object is to colonize outer space by putting down ‘development’ and ‘planet’ cards. SO much more to it than that; it has the greatest learning curve of any game I’ve ever played. BUT, while it can be very challenging and frustrating the first few (or many) plays, the pay-off is tremendous. This is a thinking game with tremendous variety-- it will never play the same way twice.  

Deep Space Wine

1 ounce of curacao in a tumbler

1 ounce black vodka

Fill to rim with sparking wine