This Sunday, millions of viewers will tune in to what's already shaping up to be the most talked about Oscars ceremony in recent memory (that is, excluding anything to do with Will Smith).
From "The Brutalist" to "Anora" and beyond, this year's roster of Best Picture nominees spans just about every genre, time period and vibe that a cinephile could imagine. In other words, it's the perfect opportunity to dream up 10 elaborately themed cocktails each wholly unlike the last. If you're sitting down with a bucket of popcorn to watch the festivities, be sure to make one of these drinks for whichever movie you're rooting for.
'Wicked - For Good Green Matcha
(Photo: Patron)
Much like "Barbie" before it, you only need one thing to make the ultimate "Wicked"-inspired cocktail — a clearly defined color scheme. But which of the myriad green ingredients best suits the witchy musical? Lime doesn't feel especially brooding, nor cucumber particularly magical. Jalapeño might work, but it doesn't sit right as Elphaba's flavor of choice. Thus, we find ourselves at this matcha-laced twist on a margarita brimming with unexpected hints of pretzel syrup and sherbet. You'll need to stock up on a few ingredients to make it all work, but it's well worth the effort.
0.5 oz Pretzel syrup (or Brown Sugar as a substitute)
0.75 oz Aquafaba
0.5 g Matcha green tea
Cinnamon stick and gold dust for garnish
Directions
Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a sprinkle of gold dust atop the matcha foam.
'Anora' - The Anora Affair
[caption id="attachment_101591" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Santa Teresa)[/caption]
"Anora" — by many accounts the front-runner in this year's Best Picture race — is a film defined by highs and lows. Passion, ecstasy, fame and the hollow feeling when it all comes crashing down. Though we'd never recommend a cocktail for "crashing down," per se, a splash of fiery bitters in an otherwise bright and fruit cocktail encapsulates the vibe quite well. Below, find Santa Teresa's rum-soaked take on the movie stuffed with approachable flavors of mango, lime and Tajin.
2-3 dashes of Scrappy’s Hellfire Bitters (or similar)
Tajin and Lime Wheel for garnish
Directions
Add all ingredients in shaker. Add ice. Shake and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a Tajin rim & lime wheel
'The Brutalist' - Suffering Bastard
[caption id="attachment_102058" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: International Bartender Association)[/caption]
Apart from its on-the-nose name, the Suffering Bastard intersects with "The Brutalist" in a couple of unexpected ways. This gloomy-yet-crushable drink was popular at the height of WWII, invented by bartender Joe Scialom as a hangover cure for allied troops stationed in Cairo. One of the cocktail's key ingredients — cognac — also happens to be central to a conversation between architect László Tóth and industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren at the heart of the film. If you have the right bottles on hand, it's hard to go back to a Moscow Mule after this.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of London Dry Gin.
Ingredients
1 oz Cognac
1 oz London Dry Gin
0.5 oz Lime Juice, freshly squeezed
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Ginger beer, to top up
Directions
Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker except ginger beer, add ice and shake well.
Pour unstrained into highball glass or mug. Slowly top to the brim with ginger beer.
'Conclave' - Garibaldi
[caption id="attachment_102060" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: ewikiLearner/Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]
Though Pope Francis has been known to favor a bottle of bourbon from time to time, we decided to go in a slightly different direction. For the quintessential Vatican-themed cocktail, look no further than the Garibaldi. Brimming with a simple combo of Campari and fresh-squeezed orange juice, the drink derives its name from the eponymous Giuseppe Garibaldi, a 19th-century general who helped unite a then-fragmented Italy. Squint your eyes hard enough and this drink looks just like the red-and-orange papal robes spotted throughout "Conclave." Whether or not an aspiring Pope would imbibe this cocktail, however, is unclear.
Fill highball glass with ice cubes. Add campari and orange juice, stirring slowly to combine.
Place orange wedge delicately on top.
'Dune: Part 2' - Naked in the Desert
[caption id="attachment_101606" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Desert Door Texas Sotol)[/caption]
A riff on Death and Co.’s agave-centric Naked and Famous, Naked in the Desert swaps out smoky mezcal for a dry, spicy bite that lingers at the back of the throat. We can't imagine a flavor profile better suited to Dune's desert of Arrakis. Apart from Aperol and Yellow Chartreuse, the star of the show is a healthy serving of sotol, an oft-overlooked Mexican spirit brimming with hints of pine needles and freshly tilled earth.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of sotol.
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake for 10-15 seconds, or until chilled. Strain into a glass with a large ice cube.
'Nickel Boys' - The Nickel Twist
[caption id="attachment_102062" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Bacardí)[/caption]
Bacardí pays homage to the "Nickel Boys" with a rum-tinged twist on the Old Fashioned called, quite literally, the Nickel Twist. The cocktail's simplicity is intended as a nod to the film's themes of resilience, struggle and the passage of time.
Add all ingredients into a rocks glass. Fill with ice. Stir until well mixed and very cold.
'I'm Still Here' - Batida
[caption id="attachment_102057" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Mangaroca Batida)[/caption]
One of only two foreign films among this year's Best Picture nominees, "I'm Still Here" takes place in 1970s Brazil amid the backdrop of the Médici military dictatorship. The drink of choice in that era would have been the batida, a dense and fruity chachaca cocktail that established itself as the definitive beachside beverage in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro throughout the decade. We've opted for a recipe that uses fruit juice and coconut milk — rather than one or the other — for a best-of-both-worlds between competing versions of the drink.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of Cachaça.
Ingredients
2 oz Cachaça
0.5 oz Passion Fruit syrup
0.5 oz Coconut Milk
0.5 oz Lime Juice
0.75 cup ice
Grated nutmeg for garnish
Directions
Add all ingredients except nutmeg into a blender. Blend until smooth
Pour into glass and top with nutmeg.
'The Substance' - Midori Sour
[caption id="attachment_101626" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Artem Mihailov/Unsplash)[/caption]
No discredit to melon liqueur, but it does look exactly like the titular neon-green substance that dissolves Hollywood movie stars into grotesque abominations. A classic cocktail of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Midori Sour is as nostalgic as it is potent, zipping with flavors of sharp citrus and egg white that you won't find on many a cocktail menu in the 21st century. In other words, it's "The Substance" in a glass.
Ingredients
2 oz Midori liqueur
0.5 oz Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
0.5 oz Lime juice, freshly squeezed
0.5 oz Egg white
Directions
Shake liqueur, lemon juice and lime with ice and strain into a glass.
Strain back into the shaker without ice and add egg white. Shake again briefly.
Fine strain back into an ice-filled glass.
'A Complete Unknown' - Mint Julep
[caption id="attachment_101590" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey)[/caption]
There's no better way to toast "A Complete Unknown" than with a glass of Bob Dylan's favorite cocktail. The folk music icon reportedly favored the mint julep, a whiskey-tinged highball today mostly associated with the Kentucky Derby and southern cuisine. We've opted for a version that uses Teeling Small Batch — an Irish whiskey in place of the traditional bourbon — but we wouldn't blame you for swapping it out in favor of Dylan's own Heaven's Door bourbon.
Build in a Collins glass filled with crushed ice. Add all ingredients and mix well. Garnish with mint leaves.
'Emilia Pérez' - Dulce de Tequila
[caption id="attachment_102081" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Gonzalo Acuña/Pexels)[/caption]
We were of a few minds on how best to interpret "Emilia Pérez" in cocktail form. The movie, at this point mired in enough controversies to fill out an entire Wikipedia article of their own, is the most-nominated but perhaps least loved film on this year's award circuit. After a little digging, we couldn't think of a better fit than the Dulce de Tequila. This relatively straightforward variation on a margarita has all the usual fixings alongside a serving of cognac — the perfect encapsulation of a French movie depicting Mexico with a healthy splash of inaccuracy.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of Reposado Tequila.
Ingredients
2 oz Reposado Tequila
1 oz Cognac
1 oz Orange Liqueur
0.5 oz Lime Juice
1 tbsp Agave Syrup
Directions
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.
Strain into a prepared glass and garnish with lime or lemon wedge.
(Photo: Santa Teresa)[/caption]
"Anora" — by many accounts the front-runner in this year's Best Picture race — is a film defined by highs and lows. Passion, ecstasy, fame and the hollow feeling when it all comes crashing down. Though we'd never recommend a cocktail for "crashing down," per se, a splash of fiery bitters in an otherwise bright and fruit cocktail encapsulates the vibe quite well. Below, find Santa Teresa's rum-soaked take on the movie stuffed with approachable flavors of mango, lime and Tajin.
(Photo: International Bartender Association)[/caption]
Apart from its on-the-nose name, the Suffering Bastard intersects with "The Brutalist" in a couple of unexpected ways. This gloomy-yet-crushable drink was popular at the height of WWII, invented by bartender Joe Scialom as a hangover cure for allied troops stationed in Cairo. One of the cocktail's key ingredients — cognac — also happens to be central to a conversation between architect László Tóth and industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren at the heart of the film. If you have the right bottles on hand, it's hard to go back to a Moscow Mule after this.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of London Dry Gin.
(Photo: ewikiLearner/Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]
Though Pope Francis has been known to favor a bottle of bourbon from time to time, we decided to go in a slightly different direction. For the quintessential Vatican-themed cocktail, look no further than the Garibaldi. Brimming with a simple combo of Campari and fresh-squeezed orange juice, the drink derives its name from the eponymous Giuseppe Garibaldi, a 19th-century general who helped unite a then-fragmented Italy. Squint your eyes hard enough and this drink looks just like the red-and-orange papal robes spotted throughout "Conclave." Whether or not an aspiring Pope would imbibe this cocktail, however, is unclear.
(Photo: Desert Door Texas Sotol)[/caption]
A riff on Death and Co.’s agave-centric Naked and Famous, Naked in the Desert swaps out smoky mezcal for a dry, spicy bite that lingers at the back of the throat. We can't imagine a flavor profile better suited to Dune's desert of Arrakis. Apart from Aperol and Yellow Chartreuse, the star of the show is a healthy serving of sotol, an oft-overlooked Mexican spirit brimming with hints of pine needles and freshly tilled earth.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of sotol.
(Photo: Bacardí)[/caption]
Bacardí pays homage to the "Nickel Boys" with a rum-tinged twist on the Old Fashioned called, quite literally, the Nickel Twist. The cocktail's simplicity is intended as a nod to the film's themes of resilience, struggle and the passage of time.
(Photo: Mangaroca Batida)[/caption]
One of only two foreign films among this year's Best Picture nominees, "I'm Still Here" takes place in 1970s Brazil amid the backdrop of the Médici military dictatorship. The drink of choice in that era would have been the batida, a dense and fruity chachaca cocktail that established itself as the definitive beachside beverage in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro throughout the decade. We've opted for a recipe that uses fruit juice and coconut milk — rather than one or the other — for a best-of-both-worlds between competing versions of the drink.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of Cachaça.
(Photo: Artem Mihailov/Unsplash)[/caption]
No discredit to melon liqueur, but it does look exactly like the titular neon-green substance that dissolves Hollywood movie stars into grotesque abominations. A classic cocktail of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Midori Sour is as nostalgic as it is potent, zipping with flavors of sharp citrus and egg white that you won't find on many a cocktail menu in the 21st century. In other words, it's "The Substance" in a glass.
(Photo: Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey)[/caption]
There's no better way to toast "A Complete Unknown" than with a glass of Bob Dylan's favorite cocktail. The folk music icon reportedly favored the mint julep, a whiskey-tinged highball today mostly associated with the Kentucky Derby and southern cuisine. We've opted for a version that uses Teeling Small Batch — an Irish whiskey in place of the traditional bourbon — but we wouldn't blame you for swapping it out in favor of Dylan's own Heaven's Door bourbon.
(Photo: Gonzalo Acuña/Pexels)[/caption]
We were of a few minds on how best to interpret "Emilia Pérez" in cocktail form. The movie, at this point mired in enough controversies to fill out an entire Wikipedia article of their own, is the most-nominated but perhaps least loved film on this year's award circuit. After a little digging, we couldn't think of a better fit than the Dulce de Tequila. This relatively straightforward variation on a margarita has all the usual fixings alongside a serving of cognac — the perfect encapsulation of a French movie depicting Mexico with a healthy splash of inaccuracy.
Click here to peruse the Bottle Raiders archive of spirits reviews to find a good bottle of Reposado Tequila.