Please don’t drink alone today Friday the 13th, the unluckiest of days, my friends.
The fear of Friday the 13th is called triskaidekaphobia. Triskaideka being the Greek word for 13. About 9% of the population suffers from at least a mild form of the phobia. There is a lot of debate about the origins, so here are a few with some drink recommendations to impress your socially distant friends.
According to those crazy Nordics – Friday the 13th came about during a party in Valhalla called Aegir’s Feast that involved twelve gods. That trickster Loki showed up, making it thirteen, shot another god, Balder and then the whole world went dark.
- 2 quarts dry red wine
- 2 quarts muscatel
- 1 pint sweet vermouth
- 2 tablespoons Angostura bitters
- 2 cups raisins
- Peelings of one orange
- 12 whole cardamoms, bruised in a mortar and pestle
- 1 piece of fresh ginger(about 2 inches)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 10 whole cloves
- 1 1/2 cups akevitt (preferably Linie)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 cups whole almonds, blanched and peeled
In a 6- to 8-quart enameled or stainless steel pot, mix together the dry red wine, muscatel, sweet vermouth, bitters, raisins, orange peel and the slightly crushed cardamoms, whole cloves, ginger and cinnamon. Cover and let the mixture stand at least 12 hours so that the flavors will develop and mingle.
Shortly before serving, add the akevitt and the sugar. Stir well and bring it to a full boil over high heat.
Remove at once from the heat, stir in the almonds and serve the hot gløgg in mugs. In Sweden, a small spoon is placed in each mug to scoop up the almonds and raisins.
You can also choose to celebrate it because of The Last Supper – where there were thirteen guests and one of them ended up nailed to a cross.
Amarone – Italian red wine made from grapes that have been dried before fermentation. It’s essentially – wine made from raisins. You can also add:
- Add a few drops of tree resin oil or…
- Pomegranates
- Saffron
- Cinnamon
Or, if you really want to impress your socially distant friends – another origin story is that a bunch of Knights Templar were arrested on October 13th , 1307 – a Friday. This led to their torture and eventual execution. Although, Friday the 13th wasn’t considered unlucky in Medieval times, Dan Brown ran with it in his bestselling book, The Da Vinci Code popularizing the Templar angle.
Malta Knights’ Bitters Recipe:
- Tonka Beans 1/4 lb
- Sage Leaves 1/4 lb
- Marjoram Herb 1/4 lb
- Calamus Root 1/4 lb
- Ginger 1/2 lb
- Elder Flower 1/2 lb
- Buckbean Herb 1/2 lb
- Angelica Root 1/2 lb
- Cassian Cinnamon 1 lb
- Anise 1 lb
- Zedoary Root 1 lb
- Cloves 1 3/4 lb
- Galanga Root 1 3/4 lb
- Gentian Root 1 3/4 lb
Combine the ingredients in a mortar and grind to a coarse powder and then pack in a percolator, or other suitable maceration vessel. Pass the alcohol through the percolator over a period of 72 hours to create the Malta Knights’ Bitters essence. If macerating, allow the mixture to macerate for 3 days with occasional agitation, then filter and reserve the liquid.
To make the Italian Malta Knights’ Bitters from the above essence, take 1 oz of essence and combine it with 1700 ml of 35% alcohol and 300 ml of 60% simple syrup.
Which ever origin story you want to drink to – Cheers and Good Luck to you, Deadsplinterites on this unluckiest of days, Friday the 13th.
Hello Lymond, way to kick off the happy hour! I tend to lean toward fancy cocktails or bourbon (or a fancy bourbon cocktail), but these all look delicious! Cheers to you.
I put the BSB on my Christmas List. I didn’t realize the 103 stood for 103 proof!
It doesn’t taste at all harsh though, due to the brown sugar and cinnamon.
But it’s gonna knock me on my ass!
ill go with nordic
Great Happy Hour, Lymond. I can see I’m going to have to up my game! I never knew any of these origin stories. I could see myself drinking the 1st one. But for tonight I think I’m going to try to empty out the fridge in preparation for Thanksgiving. I have 1 bottle of cider, a can of vodka seltzer, and some white wine. I’m probably going to feel terrible in the morning!
I just got back from major grocery & booze shopping. Looks like we might go back into lockdown again! Luckily for me, my beer guy saved me some of this!
https://untappd.com/user/OneNakedWookiee/checkin/963557926
Clearly, I need a beer guy.
Everyone does, mine comes with a beard and an attitude but a great knowledge of what I like.
Awake!
D9 brewing. Defying gravity. Wormhole. 14 %. It’s awful.
Don’t limit yourself to just one beer guy. I have several. I even had my own beer vendor at Phils games. Shaq you have an untapped notification!
That wasn’t me on Untapped, I just searched for a pic of that Level Stable Genius – Quarantine Edition and that guys account came up. I don’t do Untapped, though it seems like a good way to know what beers I’ve had, it also seems to be a good way for someone else to see how many beers I have had or how much I spend on beer. That is probably not the best info for a happy wife or random stop by the law. Also, I do have more than one beer guy, just this one is my favorite. Pre-quarantine, he would have my beer poured before I got inside the door.
Also, shit man, a 14% wild ale is not for post nap, that is for nap inducing! Yikes! It’s going to be a short night if you keep on that path. That description makes me think you are WAY braver than I when buying beers w/out tasting them first.
Lol…oops. Yea, untapped is a bit like homework. Onto Other Half pumpkin spice crunchee!
Ninja edit: no nap! the 14% went down the sink. It was worse than cough syrup. My cousin bought it along with other mixed beers after he crunched the tailgate of my truck into a tree.
…apology booze that isn’t fit to drink seems like you should get to have it replaced with “the good stuff” or surely it calls the apology into question, no?
…I guess I’m saying it sounds like your cousin still owes you
…hope the Other Half was more to your liking, either way
Well, it was only 1 of many. He was very embarrassed and apologetic, insisted on buying a new tailgate. I told him don’t bother, 15 yr old truck, no biggie, buy me beer. He’s more of a brother than cousin, so easy for me to let it slide. The pumpkin was muuuuuch better . Time for dinner!