Blue Wave: The Cocktail

A 24-hour voter postcard marathon needed cocktails.

Always one for a play on words, I jumped at the chance to create cocktails for Markers for Democracy’s 24-hour postcard-to-voters marathon. Over the course of a day, volunteers hand-wrote note after note to registered voters, while encouragement was provided a who’s who of democracy.

Senator Cory Booker offered inspiration, Senator Jon Ossoff explained how effective personal notes were in getting out the vote, and even the Queen of Today (civil fraud suit! civil fraud suit!), Attorney General Letitia James reminded us how we must vote to defend our right to bodily autonomy. (Here is the complete line up.)

I popped in with my friend, TV writer, Nell Scovell, to help postcard writers in a different way: With cocktails.

Here are the recipes, so you too can enjoy them wherever democracy is served. (And to ensure it keeps being served…)

From Bitter to Sweet Cocktail

Serves 1

2 ounces tequila

1 ounce Campari (or similar)

½ ounce Amaro liqueur

½ teaspoon maple syrup

Dash of bitters

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add the tequila, Campari, Amaro, maple syrup and the dash of bitters. Put the lid on the shaker and give the shaker, um, a shake. A few gentle shakes will do, there is no need to go all Tom Cruise on this one. Strain into a glass over ice, write postcards and save democracy.

The Blue Wave Cocktail

Serves 1

2 ounces Calvados or apple jack

1 ½ ounces Cointreau or Gran Marnier or Triple Sec

½ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice

A small dish with demerara or brown sugar

1 tablespoon frozen blueberries

Put a coupe glass in the freezer to chill. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add the Calvados, Cointreau and lime juice. Pop on the shaker lid and jumble it about.
Sugar the rim of the glass: Rub the rim of the frozen coupe glass with a lime, then dip the glass in sugar. Place the frozen berries in the bottom of the glass, and strain the beautiful liquid from the shaker into the glass.

Fancy a non-alcoholic treat?

Fill a tall glass halfway with ice. Pour 1 teaspoon maple syrup over the ice. Add a few drops of bitters and fill glass with lemon-lime seltzer. Stir briefly. Add more bitters to taste.

Even if you missed the event, there will be more in the future. And to learn and get involved in the great work Markers for Democracy is doing, you can read more here.

Do you send out postcards to voters? Do you like cocktails with silly names like I do? Which mid-term election race has you most on-edge?