How To Throw A Leonard-Cohen-Style Cocktail Party
Image by Getty Images
Booze and Vinyl, by Andre and Tenaya Darlington, is a sleek volume with suggestions for cocktails and music pairings — including recipes for listening to the iconic Songs Of Leonard Cohen album on vinyl.
So here it is, some fresh new cocktail recipes courtesy of the Darlington siblings.
Time to set the mood and let the room spin…
Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1967
Producer: John Simon
Label: Columbia
Genre: Folk, Folk Rock
When to Spin: Cabin weekend
LINER NOTES
Mystical and deeply melodic, these songs make for some seriously soothing drinking music. Cohen was both a poet and something of a foodie, so listen closely and you’ll hear mentions of bread, wine, honey, tea, and oranges. It’s comfort music. Pack your record player in the trunk of your car, grab the cat and dog, then head to the woods with a longtime love or a new infatuation. With its many references to winter (“Winter Lady”) and shivering Eskimos, this may just be the sleeper holiday album you’ve been looking for—slightly melancholic but sumptuously cozy.
BEFORE YOU DROP THE NEEDLE
Pull out the wool blanket and light the woodstove. Or pretend with a pine-scented candle.
BLOOD AND SAND
One of the greatest Scotch-based cocktails, this classic drink was named after the eponymous 1922 movie starring Rudolph Valentino as a bullfighter. With Cherry Heering starring as the “blood,” it is a knock-your-red-cape-off combination that is more than the sum of its parts. Even non-Scotch drinkers love it (just don’t tell them it’s Scotch until they’ve tried it). Cohen is all sex, death, and gravitas—and this is the drink to match it.
11/2 ounces Scotch (we like Talisker)
3/4 ounce Cherry Heering
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce fresh orange juice
Orange peel, for garnish
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel.
WHITE LADY
Cohen loved the ladies, and his songs are populated with nuns, saints, and lovers. Pour a frothy one and toast “Sisters of Mercy.” You’ll want this one as a last sip when Cohen starts whistling and straining to finish his “la-las” on the last song.
11/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce Cointreau
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar and water)
1 ounce egg white
Lemon twist, for garnish
Shake ingredients vigorously with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Reprinted with permission from BOOZE AND VINYL © 2018 by André Darlington & Tenaya Darlington, Running Press
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
