Oscar Party Cocktails
Award season is in full swing and with the Oscars coming up swiftly on Sunday, why not watch the awards in style? I’ll show you how to entertain your Oscar party guests with movie themed cocktails and popcorn. Inspired by the best picture nominees, I created drinks to fit the themes and tone of each movie and internationally-flavored popcorn based on the foreign-language film nominees.
For recipes for each drink, click the links below.
Beasts of the Southern Wild - The Bathtub
Zero Dark Thirty – Midnight Shooter
Django Unchained - Mandingo Sunset
Silver Linings Playbook - Excelsior!
For recipes for my internationally-flavored popcorn, click here.
If you missed my segment on Good Day New York, you can watch it below!
Oscar Party Cocktails: Beasts of the Southern Wild – The Bathtub
Based in the southern Louisiana bayou community called the “Bathtub,” Beasts of the Southern Wild, is a story about a five-year old girl named Hushpuppy and her unhealthy father. While other Bathtub residents flee due to the oncoming storm, the two decide to stick it out with a few others in their community.
I created a cocktail called The Bathtub, named after the community the movie is based in. This drink was inspired by Louisiana food and spirits. It uses Louisiana’s own Tabasco sauce, vodka dirtied up by Louisiana bayou seasonings, and is garnished with a hush puppy, after one of the main character’s names.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. dirty vodka (Ketel One infused with hot peppers, whole allspice, bay leaves, oregano and thyme)
- 2 oz. tomato juice
- 2 oz. of clamato juice
- 2 oz. beer
- Tabasco
- 1 raw oyster (optional)
- Cajun spiced rim (dry crab boil seasoning)
- Lemon wedge
- Lime Wedge
- Hush Puppy for garnish
Instructions:
Infuse vodka and let sit for at least one day and up to a week. Add vodka, tomato juice, clamato juice, Tabasco (to taste) and beer into a cocktail shaker with ice and stir until combined. Moisten a pint glass rim with a lime wedge and dredge the rim in crab boil seasoning. Pour mixture into rimmed glass and garnish with a skewer of lemon and lime wedges and one hushpuppy.
Oscar Party Cocktails: Amour – Perfect Love
Amour is a story about a couple’s struggle after the wife suffers a stroke. The couple, retired music teachers, are in their eighties and have a daughter who lives abroad with her family.
Because Amour is a French-language film, my cocktail for Amour is named after Parfait Amour, a floral infused liqueur, which is French for “perfect love.”
Ingredients:
- ½ oz. Parfait Amour
- ½ oz. Cointreau
- Top with Moet & Chandon Champagne
Instructions:
Add Parfait Amour and Cointreau into a Champagne flute and slowly top off with chilled Champagne.
Oscar Party Cocktails: Life of Pi – Richard Parker
Pi, a young man, is in the only one from his family who survives a shipwreck and is stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. Life of Pi unfolds as an adventure as Pi is stranded with a Bengal tiger.
The cocktail for Life of Pi is named after the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker. My inspiration for this drink came from locations and nationalities in the film. The Chai tea is for Pi’s Indian origin, while the Cointreau is for Pi’s name, Piscine Molitar, a swimming pool in France. The Yuzu juice is for the Japanese freighter ship Pi and his family are on and the Canadian whiskey is because Pi’s family was destined for Canada.
Ingredients:
- 4 oz. Chai Tea (hot brewed)
- 1 oz. Cointreau
- 1 oz. Crown Royal Canadian whiskey
- ½ oz. Yuzu Juice
Instructions:
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice and stir well. Pour into a warmed brandy snifter and garnish with a lemon twist.
Oscar Party Cocktails: Les Misérables – Toulon
Taking place in 19th-century France, this movie is based on the musical Les Misérables, which is actually based on the French novel by Victor Hugo. The story follows Jean Valjean, an ex-convict, who becomes mayor of a town in France and struggles as he decides to care for a factory worker’s daughter, all while being hunted by a policeman.
Toulon is the name of this cocktail, inspired by and named after the city in which the prison Jean was in. It’s a classic French cocktail with spirits of the period and sugar and bitters because of the movie is bittersweet.
Ingredients:
- 3 oz. Hennessy
- 1 oz. Benedictine (herbal liqueur)
- 1 oz. dry vermouth
- ½ oz. lemon juice
- sugar cube
- bitters
Instructions:
Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker half filled with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and decorate with a lemon rind spiral.
Oscar Party Cocktails: Lincoln – Yankee Punch
Based on part of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Abraham Lincoln, the film follow’s the President’s struggles during the Civil War. Lincoln focuses on the President’s efforts to have the 13th amendment to emancipate the slaves passed by the House of Representatives.
The Yankee Punch, the cocktail for Lincoln, is a period drink based off of a classic brandy punch. I used Kentucky bourbon in this drink because Lincoln hails from Kentucky.
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. Curacoa
- 2 TBS White Sugar
- 3 oz. Bulleit Kentucky Bourbon
- ½ small lemon
- 2 oz. of soda water
Instructions:
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with shaved ice, shake well, pour into a Colins glass top with soda water, dress the top with fruit of the season.
Oscar Party Cocktails: Argo – Canadian Caper
A thriller based on the Iran hostage crisis in which the six fugitive American diplomatic personnel were rescued. In order to get them out, a CIA operative set up fake Canadian identities for the diplomats and a fake movie scouting.
The cocktail’s name is based on the article “Canadian Caper” and is a “fake” cocktail (non-alcoholic) about a fake movie. I wanted to make it a fun fruity, frozen cocktail…but if you want to be a little stealthy or covert in your drink making, slip in a shot of Canadian whiskey.
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg of Blue Raspberry Drink Mix
- 16 oz. Pineapple Juice
- 8 oz ice water
- 1 ½ oz. Canadian Whiskey (optional)
Instructions:
Blend blue raspberry drink mix and pineapple juice with ice in a blender until smooth and pour into a hurricane-style glass with a straw. Float the Crown Royal on the top filling the straw and garnish with a slice of orange and an umbrella and pretend you are whoever you are not…
Oscar Party Cocktails: Zero Dark Thirty – Midnight Shooter
“A story of history’s greatest manhunt for the world’s dangerous man,” this movie is a chronicle of the hunt for the al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. This film is a dramatization of the operation by Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 that found and killed bin Laden in 2006.
This cocktail is actually a shooter – down and dirty, quick and easy. As a hard, gritty film, the shooter I created for Zero Dark Thirty is called Midnight Shooter because the operation takes place in the middle of the night.
Ingredients:
- ½ shot black Sambuca
- ½ shot Bulleit Bourbon
Instructions:
Refrigerate ingredients then LAYER in chilled shot glass by carefully pouring over the back of a spoon in the following order; bourbon then Sambuca
Oscar Party Cocktails: Django Unchained – Mandingo Sunset
Django Unchained is a wester film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film follows a slave who sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner with the help of a German bounty hunter.
I created a surreal drink for a surreal movie. The drink’s name, Mandingo Sunset, was inspired after they rode into the sunset at the end of the movie.
Ingredients:
- 3 oz. Bulleit Bourbon
- 2 oz. orange juice
- 1 oz. lemon juice
- ½ oz. simple syrup
- ½ oz. Maraschino syrup
Instructions:
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into ice-filled rocks glass. Drizzlle maraschino suyrup into the drink to create the sunset effect and garnish with orange.
Oscar Party Cocktails: Silver Linings Playbook
This romantic comedy-drama follows the story of a former teacher who moves back in with his parents after being in a mental institutation. He tries to reconcile with his ex-wife, but meets a girl with problems of her own and the two develop an odd friendship.
My cocktail, the Excelsior!, was inspired by a traditional drink from Philadelphia, the Philly Punch. Back in the Revolutionary War era, fisherman would gather to eat and drink, but at this time, individual cocktails were almost non-existent and punch was the customary way to drink with friends. The name for this drink comes from the main character’s mantra and the exclamation point is used to express the emotion “ever upward.”
Ingredients:
- 3 oz. Myer’s Dark Rum
- ½ oz. peach brandy
- ½ oz. lemon juice
- ½ oz. simple syrup
- top with ginger ale
- lemon wheel
Instructions:
Combine rum, peach brandy, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and pour into a 6 oz. wine glass. Top with ginger ale and garnish with a lemon wheel.
Oscar Party: Internationally-Flavored Popcorn
I created internationally-flavored popcorn based on the foreign-language film nominees. Recipes for each are below.
Amour – Austria
Ingredients:
- 1 bag of plain microwave popcorn
- 2 tbs Herbs de Provence
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp Fleur de sel
Instructions:
Pop the popcorn, then put it in a large ziploc bag. Evenly spray with a light coating of olive oil flavored cooking spray. Combine the other ingredients and add to the bag. Shake the bag to evenly coat the popcorn.
Ingredients:
- 1 bag of plain microwave popcorn
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground cloves
Instructions:
Pop the popcorn, then put it in a large ziploc bag. Evenly spray with a light coating of olive oil flavored cooking spray. Combine the other ingredients and add to the bag. Shake the bag to evenly coat the popcorn.
No - Chile
Tacama’s spice mix is a mixture of herbs and indigenous ingredients from Patagonia in southern Chile.
Ingredients:
- 1 bag of plain microwave popcorn
- 1 dried red hot pepper
- 1 tsp dill seeds
- 1 tsp Chilean smoked sea salt
Instructions:
Pop the popcorn, then put it in a large ziploc bag. Evenly spray with a light coating of olive oil flavored cooking spray. Combine the other ingredients and add to the bag. Shake the bag to evenly coat the popcorn.
A Royal Affair - Denmark
Ingredients:
- 1 bag of plain microwave popcorn
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp grated orange zest
- 1/2 tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp anise seed
- 1/2 tsp caraway seed
- 1 tsp Danish smoked sea salt
Instructions:
Pop the popcorn, then put it in a large ziploc bag. Evenly spray with a light coating of olive oil flavored cooking spray. Combine the other ingredients and add to the bag. Shake the bag to evenly coat the popcorn.
War Witch - Canada
Ingredients:
- 1 cup real maple syrup
- ½ – 1 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely
- 9 cups plain popped popcorn
Instructions:
Heat maple syrup over medium heat until syrup reaches 236 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. Lightly oil large mixing bowl. Mix popcorn, nuts and syrup with lightly-oiled spoon. When mizture cools, break off and eat.
Halloween Fun: Mad Scientist Bar
Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays for throwing parties – Halloween Parties are all about creating entertaining spaces that are as much about setting the stage and putting on a show. Which, by the way we should be doing throughout the year –minus trying to scare and gross-out our guests!
I am fascinated with mixology and I am known for my WOW tables; so as a frightful focal point to my Halloween party I created a WOW bar, The Mad Scientist Bar. (evil laugh)
[Watch my Mad Scientist Bar on Better!]
I’ve used some everyday items, classics beverages and foods, along with some of my Hollywood-style special effects to create a laboratory entertaining space. Put on your lab coat and goggles and follow along as I show to make creepy concoctions and powerful potions that will surely be a scream at any Halloween party.
Mad Scientists collect all kinds of specimens to do their experiments on. With that inspiration, I created Specimen Punch. This is a lot of fun to put together and I am using a three-tier beverage jar with a spout. In my first tier are my specimens – guts and a brain glowing in a purple Formaldehyde (cauliflower, cellophane noodles and glow lights in purple colored water). For the punch in the center of the tier I have frozen cadaver hands keeping the Radio Active Punch frightfully chilled (colored water frozen in latex gloves). Finally on top, I have a collection of nasty, but tasty gummy bugs, worms and eyeballs to garnish each drink with! A mad Scientist Bar would be complete with out specimen jars of failed experiments (canning jars filled with everyday food items in colored water; boiled eggs, white asparagus, cooked spaghetti, mushrooms, ginger roots.)
Halloween doesn’t always have to be scary or gross… it can be down right manipulative as well (another evil laugh)! To create my Secret Potions… I took the essence of classic champagne and wine, and boiled them down in to liquid spells that with a little dropper full, transforms these mild mannered glasses of champagne and wine into liquid spells for infatuation, mind control and sedation.
These cocktails are based of iconic cocktails that I dissected down to the very essence, then recombined them, fortified and more powerful then ever to create The Antidote! – I have found the cure to a boring Halloween Party. With the Antidote, I can transform these unsuspecting glasses of soda water, ginger ale and orange juice into new creations – The Cape Fear, Creepy Old Man and Ta-Kill-Ya Sunset!
I’ve taken my signature Alien Secretion cocktail created for this year’s Oscars and recalculated composition to turn them into cocktails that are truly out of this world for Halloween. These three unique cocktails have pose an very interesting dilemma when drinking… you have to eat the Alien Skin (flavored gelatin discs) off of the top in order to access the secretion below; classic alien secretion, galactic serpent, Martian sunrise!
Find more great ideas for a killer Halloween party here.
Recipes for Mad Scientist Bar below…
Specimen Punch
· 1 part Midori Melon Liqueur
· 1 part Dark Rum
· 1 part Light Rum
· 2 part White Cranberry Juice
· 1 part Unfiltered Apple Juice
· 1 part Simple Syrup
- Ice Hands – To Make Frozen Hand:
Add food color to water until you reach desired color. Fill glove with water, fastening end with a twist tie or rubber band. Hang glove from a shelf in the freezer and freeze overnight. When frozen, pull glove from ice and place “hand” in the punch.
Antidote Shots (Syringes) – Deconstructed Cocktails
- Cape Fear – Cranberry Juice, Vodka & triple sec
- After Midnight – Black Vodka & Pomegranate Juice
- Alien Secretion – Melon liquor, Pineapple & Rum
- Creepy Old Man – Burbon, dash of vanilla, triple sec
- Ta-Kill-Ya Sunset – Tequila, triple sec & Grenadine
- Gin Ricketts – Gin & Lime Juice
MIXERS – Soda Water, Tonic Water, White Cranberry Juice, White Grape Juice, Ginger Ale, lemon lime soda
Secret Potions (Medicine Jars w/ Droppers)
- Infatuation – Pom Juice & Eldeflower Liquor
- Revenge – Brandy & 151 rum, pineapple juice
- Mind Eraser – cognac, triple sec
- Sedation – lavender infused gin, lime juice, simple syrup
- Adrenaline – pear vodka, pear puree
Hallo-Tinis
- Bloody Cosmo
- White Cosmo w/ strawberry glazed rim
- Orange vodka
- White cranberry juice
- Triple sec
- Lime juice
- White Cosmo w/ strawberry glazed rim
- Black Magic
- Black cosmo w/ dark kayro syrup & orange sugar rim
- Blavod Black Vodka
- Pomegranate juice
- Triple sec
- Lime juice
- Black cosmo w/ dark kayro syrup & orange sugar rim
- Poison Apple
- Spike cider with caramel rim
- Apple Vodka
- Hard Apple Cider
- Goldshalager
- Spike cider with caramel rim
