#backwards distilling

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Backwards Distilling Strongman Gin 750 ml

[fyasummershowdown]

The Derek Hale (MLD: Gamemakers’ Edition)

Ingredients

1 oz. vodka

½ can Dry Sparkling Cucumber 

a dash of dark maple syrup

a dash of lime juice and a pinch of minced ginger (fresh, bottled, who can care when your whole family is dead)

a handful of blackberries, bruised, like your soul

whatever green garnish you can forage from the ruins of your torched family home

ice (because your piercing murderer’s wolf stare can only freeze our hearts)

Derek Hale is on the moodiest end of the already devastatingly moody Mysterious Loner Dude spectrum. MLD has reason! His psychotic uncle forced him to become a teen murderer…of his own girlfriend, and then hunters wiped out his entire family…except that psychotic uncle.  

He’s never been able to lead the pack he wanted, can barely maintain a single friendship, and honestly just doesn’t have the melanin for extended exposure to anything but night or deep shadows. Still, inside he is all endless love and surprise Halloween candy.

To honor the mysterious loner dudeness of Derek, then, we have combined the dry, sharp emptiness of a good vodka with the even drier, sharper emptiness of a cucumber soda, then cut it with the bitter-seedy sweetness of nearly overripe blackberries, with the surprise of maple and lime and ginger breaking out from the heart of the glass at the last moment. The result is a high-octane drink that challenges the palate, but then almost immediately disappears into nothing. Which, considering we haven’t seen Derek since 2014, but still can’t get him out of our heads, couldn’t be more appropriate.

Find the rest of the 2017 MLD drinks here.

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[fyasummershowdown]

Puzzle #1: A Clichéd Solution

First, some Casper-born Backwards cocktails to add to your cocktail party list. 

via Oil City

Why? Y’all deserve it! 100% accuracy across the 2016 Showdown Scoreboard!

Next, the solution:

Part One

(The) (Girls) at the Kingfisher Club

(The) (Girl) is Murder

(The) (Girl) of Ink and Stars

(The) (Girl) of Fire and Thorns

(no The) (Girl) Against the Universe

(The) (Girl) at Midnight

(The) (Girl) with the Wrong Name

(no The) (Girl) in the Blue Coat

(no The) (Girl) in the Shadows (though there is a small pub title with the THE—thanks, FYAON!)

Title #10:

(The) (Girl) Who Soared over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two

Part Two

For better or worse, these titles are all about (The) Girl(s). Alexis wasn’t as diligent as she should have been when copying the titles to paper from Goodreads, so titles that were supposed to be missing the “the” or had a plurality of girls were accepted in any format. 

Part Three

THE  BACKWARDS  MOONKIN

I.e., the awesome early autumn cocktail Alexis’ mixologist friend/one of the coolest people she knows whipped up at the end of the 2015 Showdown. We hope some of you take up the challenge of walnut syrup and make a few of these at your own cocktail parties this summer!

And that’s a wrap on 2016′s first puzzle. See you soon with Puzzle #2!