Bottoms Up! 10 Literary Inspired Cocktails

Looking forward to major parties this summer at your enigmatic friend’s house in the Hamptons? Do it up Gatsby style with this refreshing, bubbly cocktail.

1 sugar cube

Angoustura bitters

Champagne

Lemon or orange twist

Soak the sugar cube in Angoustura bitters. Place the sugar cube at the bottom of the champagne flute and pour the Champagne over it, allowing the sugar to dissolve slightly. Top with an orange or lemon twist.

In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood orders a “vodka, just a vodka,” because she’s not real sure what she’s doing. You know better.

Dry vermouth

2 oz vodka

Fill a cocktail glass with full ice. Add desired amount of vermouth (half a cap full for dry), and stir. Poor out excess vermouth. Add 2 oz of vodka, and stir. Garnish with a lemon twist or olives.

Though the horror master gave up substances a long time ago, we’d like to think he’d get a kick out of a bloody cocktail named for his first novel—even if it’s virgin. There are lots of ingredients that go into a great Bloody Mary. Try a variation by adding gin instead of vodka, or tequila for a Bloody Maria.

Named after Scout’s mysterious neighbor in To Kill a Mockingbird, the Boo Radley is a riff on a classic Southern concoction called The Creole Cocktail, which first appeared in 1916.

2 oz bourbon

3/4 oz Cynar

1/2 oz Cherry herring

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Stir until chilled. Strain into coupe or cocktail glass. Express a lemon or orange peel over the cocktail.

Carson McCullers liked to fill her thermos full of hot tea and sherry, her drink of choice when she was writing. Toast Carson with a boozy Long Island Iced Tea, a refreshing (but strong!) version for summer nights.

1⁄2 oz. gin

1⁄2 oz. vodka

1⁄2 oz. tequila

1⁄2 oz. light rum

1⁄2 oz. Cointreau

3⁄4 oz. lemon juice

Top with cola

Lemon wedge

Pour all ingredients except cola and garnish into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake, and then strain into a Collins glass filled with ice cubes. Add cola until color of tea. Garnish with lemon wedge.

This one might not come with at witty name, but luckily Salinger already had that covered since Rye is a grain used to make whiskey. Bourbon’s less sugary cousin is the focus of this spirit-forward cocktail inspired by the author’s classic novel.

1 1/2 oz Rye (Sazerac 6 Year)

1 oz Amontillado Sherry (Lustau Dry)

1/2 oz Torani Amer

1/4 oz Grand Marnier

1 dash Angoustura bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Holmes’ preferred beverage gets you through those long and stormy nights when you’re out on the moors, trying to solve a murder.

Ice

1 1/2 ounces single-malt Scotch, preferably Laphroaig

2 ounces chilled brewed Lapsang souchong tea

1 ounce Honey Syrup

3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the remaining ingredients and stir well. Double strain into a chilled coupe.

Toast the delights of New Orleans with one of its most famous cocktails, The Ramos Gin Fizz. Just don’t have too many or you might be out on the streets, yelling for Stella.

1/4 cup (2 ounces) gin

1 dash (3 to 4 drops) orange blossom water (also called orange flower water)

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) half-and-half

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) simple syrup

1 cup ice cubes

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) seltzer

In large cocktail shaker, combine gin, orange blossom water, egg white, half-and-half, lemon juice, lime juice, and simple syrup. Shake vigorously for 25 seconds. Add ice and shake for 30 more seconds.

Strain mixture into an 8-ounce glass. Slowly pour soda water down the edge of shaker to loosen remaining froth. Gently ease soda water/froth mix onto drink and serve.

Trick Dog, a San Francisco bar, created a real life version of Alex’s drink of choice in A Clockwork Orange, Moloko Punch. Though hopefully it doesn’t “make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence,” it is dangerously drinkable.

2 ounces rum (preferably Eldorado 12 year)

1/2 ounce Del Maguey Crema de Mezcal

1/2 ounce Bénédictine

3 ounces cardamom-infused milk (see Editor’s note)

1 barspoon simple syrup (1:1, sugar:water)

2 dashes orange bitters, Angostura

2 ounces sparkling wine

Add all ingredients (except sparkling wine) to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled.

Strain into a highball glass. Add 2 ounces of chilled, sparkling wine.

Editor’s note: Crack 1/4 cup of cardamom pods. Add to 1 pint of whole milk and 1 pint of half and half in a saucepan. Keep over low heat for around 30 minutes. Strain. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In Aldous Huxley’s dystopian vision in A Brave New World, everyone’s hooked on Soma, a happy pill that let’s them feel no pain. The painkiller cocktail might not solve all your problems, but it comes awfully close.

2 oz Pusser’s Rum

4 oz Pineapple juice

1 oz Orange juice

1 oz Cream of coconut

Add all the ingredients to a Hurricane glass or large snifter and fill with ice.

Stir to combine and garnish with an orange wedge, a cherry, and freshly grated nutmeg.

Featured still from "The Great Gatsby" via Paramount Pictures