LINDSAY MERBAUM
Lindsay Merbaum is a witchy writer and high priestess of home mixology crafting cocktails inspired by the moods and themes of contemporary reads. Her essays, reviews, interviews, and booktail recipes have appeared in Electric Literature, Bustle, LA Review of Books, The Huffington Post, The Rumpus, Bitch Media, and others. Released in the fall of 2021 from Creature Publishing, her experimental queer feminist horror novel THE GOLD PERSIMMON is a Foreword Indies finalist.
Lindsay Merbaum: How the hell did you come up with this drink?
In A.K. Blakemore’s novel THE MANNINGTREE WITCHES, young Rebecca and her surly, hard-drinking mother find themselves accused of witchcraft after their village falls under the spell of a mysterious and aloof witch hunter called Matthew Hopkins. Ravaged by civil war and hunger, the community is ripe for hysteria and eager for scapegoats to heap blame upon for their misfortunes — and poor, unattached women are the perfect targets. As a narrator and protagonist, Rebecca’s voice is compelling and real, like a 17th century English Scheherazade desperately whispering her tale in your ear. Based on true historical figures brought to life with prose that cuts like a knife, this novel is as rousing as it is compelling. Ultimately, this is a story about women’s interior lives under subjugation and the choices they each make when they really have no choices at all: “There is a pattern to it, like with knitting, a language of it, and it is women’s, and held secret and grey-pink as guts.”
This booktail (cocktail + book = booktail) is made with Tennessee whiskey for the promise and the trap of the Americas, mixed with rosemary pear syrup: “rosemary stands for remembrance,” Rebecca tells the reader, sharing a story she’ll never forget about a rosemary bush and her mother’s crooked nose. Pear references bowls of stewed pears offered by curious neighbors during the trials of a supposedly bewitched boy, the one Rebecca and her mother are accused of hexing. The whiskey and syrup are topped with Oude Kriek lambic beer, one of the oldest beers still widely available for sale, a nod to the abundant beer references in the novel. Oude Kriek is a sour cherry beer, as cherries appear in Hopkins’ gruesome fantasy of a witches’ feast. His own coin pays for real-life cherries, among other delectable treats.
Set against a woodland backdrop with the novel standing amongst the greenery, this cocktail is framed by evergreen boughs and pine cones, as in the woods where sin hides and devils fly. The drink sits atop a felt leaf, with a rosemary garnish. An apple with a bloody bite taken out of it looms over the cocktail at the center of this tableau, a reminder of the consequences of Eve’s daring. Hopkins also “tests” a collection of apples when assessing Rebecca’s capacity as a witch. Meanwhile, she dreams of a neighbor woman picking an apple from a mystical tree.
Cocktail: The Manningtree Witches
Ingredients
1.5 oz Tennessee whiskey (All American Whiskey suggests Prichards or Collier an
2 oz Oude Kriek lambic beer
1 oz rosemary pear syrup (see below)
Pear Syrup
2 ripe Anjou pears, peeled and cored
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
1 sprig of rosemary
Method
First, prepare the syrup. Mix the pears in a blender until smooth. Add a quarter cup of water if necessary. Stir together the pear purée, water, sugar, lemon, and rosemary sprig in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Once cool, strain through a mesh strainer to remove any remaining pulp, stirring as needed. Store in a clean glass or jar and keep refrigerated.
Once the syrup is cool, fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Add the whiskey and pear syrup, then gently stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and top with the beer. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
