Game of Drinks: Game of Thrones Themed Drinks

Drink-smith Carrie Watt with her Game of Thrones cocktails.

In Westeros they love their horns of ale and a good Dornish vintage.  Well, you may never taste the grapes of the Arbour, and we certainly would not recommend drinking like Cersei Lannister, but you can have some pretty damn tasty Game of Thrones cocktails at the Halyards bar in Brooklyn every Sunday night (at the Game of Thrones/Mad Men viewing party) courtesy of bartender miss Carrie Watt.

Ice & Fire

-Whiskey, jalapeno chili pepper, blood oj, splash of soda.

This aptly titled whiskey drink hits a lot of notes from the moment it touches your tongue.  Starting cool and leaving you breathing fire.  An initial refreshingly sweet flavor gives way to sour and the drink has a distinctly spicy sensation that stays in your throat long after it is gone.

Sanza Stark

-Titos, strawberry, lemonade and basil.

This drink matches the elder Lady Stark in both looks and flavor.  This pink, summery cocktail is light and sweet.  A bright lemonade flavor makes it great for a sunny day by the pool in Highgarden.

White Walker

-Vodka, Cointreau, lemon cordial, simple syrup

This milky white, icy vodka drink has a distinctly tart flavor and a powerful kick that can do you in very quickly if you're not mindful.  Delicious and strong, the lemon cordial gives the drink a visual consistency of an icy abyss.

Remember the Wedding

-Tequila, OJ, blood OJ

Named for the way the blood OJ ominously mixes with the tequila and OJ, this afternoon cocktail is sugary and strong.  The blood OJ sets it apart for both character and taste.

Lady Arya

-Beefeater gin, lemonade, cayenne peppers, cucumber and agave

A personal favorite, this gin drink is invigorating, feisty and great for anyone looking for something flavorful but not too sweet.  A well balanced mix between smooth and fiery, it perfectly embodies everyone's favorite pint-sized assassin.  You can bet the Hound would drink it by the hornful.

So there they are.  Guaranteed to make your journey to the Wall more enjoyable or your next royal hunt more exciting.  Make them at home for your next Game of Thrones viewing party or come down to Halyards in Brooklyn every Sunday night for the Game of Thrones/Mad Men trivia and viewing party (Starts at 8pm) and have Carrie herself make you one of your choosing.

Game of Thrones to Release Rap Mixtape

You know, people say Seinfeld was a big show, a great show.  I won't dispute that, but I don't recall Seinfeld - or any other show - ever getting big enough to get its own rap album.  That's exactly the treatment Game of Thrones is getting in the lead up to its 4th season, premiering April 6th.

Vibe.com reports that the album is designed (apparently) to help people interested in seeing the show get familiarized with the excessive number of people, places, and things from the world that is known as Westeros (which is actually only one of the two fictional continents on which the show takes place, but maybe Common will explain that more fully through some sweet rhymes on the album).

While this is certiainly one of the most joyously ridiculous bits of crossmarketing I can ever remember happening, I am a little wary of the quality.  The whole exercise is so bizzare that it seems a little forced and the few rhymes you catch in vibe.com's short video don't exactly evoke memories of Biggie's "juicy".

Regardless, in an age of relentless media saturation and instant gratification, this work of love between rappers and dragons is something we should all celebrate.

Game of Thrones: Season 4 Trailer Reaction

 

Polar vortexes, dog turds hidden under the snow, and slushy streets in NYC can only mean one thing:  Winter is upon us.  But also, Winter is Coming!

That’s right, this past week HBO released the first trailer for Game of Thrones new season, set to begin in April.  Being the Game of Thrones scholar that I am I have some thoughts, reactions, ponderings to share about it. 

First off, it’s awesome.  Maybe not quite Season 2: Seven Devils trailer awesome, but a masterpiece of advertisement under any other name.  The only really negative thing I can say about it is that the opening shot of the dragon flying over the city looks surprisingly fake.  A very unexpected criticism for a show that has made its name on great special effects and CGI use.

But aside from that little hiccup it is pretty great.

There have been a few recastings, Daario’s Ed Skrein has been replaced by HBO actor,Micheil Huisman (you can kind of see him at the 15 second mark facing down a charging knight).  Gregor Clegane has been recast (AGAIN) making Hafthor Julius Bjornsson the third really tall, strong dude to play the psychotic brute, but despite repeated reports from people working within the series that the show will diverge significantly from its source material this year, most of it looks pretty recognizable.   I suspect the central reason for these “warnings” from the show runners is to hopefully soften the blowback from fans of the books for the changes they do make.

Probably the most jarring thing for fans of the books to see is the actor playing Oberyn Martell aka The Red Viper.  A very popular character from the novels, Oberyn is described as having olive skin with a slender build, a long, clean-shaven face, and sharp nose.  Most artist interpretations of him have him somewhere between an Italian and Persian man.  On the show he is being played by Pedro Pascal, a scruffy, square jawed Chilean who may be the first person ever cast on the show that actually looks YOUNGER than his character is written in the books.

Really the only truly mysterious images from the trailer are those of the Greyjoy siblings and Rast. 

Who is Rast?  He’s that dickhead member of the Night’s Watch that terrorizes Samwell and ended up murdering Commander Mormont in the pretty great mutiny scene at Craster’s farm (yeah I know, Keep, but it's a farm).

In the books, Rast has been long dead by this time, but on the show they’ve kept him around because he’s a villain the audience can recognize, which is important in a show with so many damn characters.   What is surprising, however, is what they have him doing.  Putting the baby out in the snow to be sacrificed like the second coming of Craster.  In the books, after the mutiny, we never return to Craster’s farm.  The last we saw of Rast heavily suggested we’d be seeing him again, but the show hasn’t had much success with creating new storylines.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Then there are Yara and Theon Greyjoy. two of the best characters in the books, nearly completely ruined by the show.  Both are seen only briefly, Yara leading a group of men rowing a boat merrily down a stream and Theon in full armor riding on a horse looking mildly confused.  Now Yara’s storyline is COMPLETELY different from the books at this point, so it is anyone’s guess what she is up to.  I, however, wouldn’t be surprised to see her take on the role of Jeyne Poole down the road (you book people will know).

Meanwhile, the clip of Theon (1:24) has to be a dream sequence.  It just HAS to be.  Considering everything that has happened to him up to this point, it is just impossible for him to physically ever look that way again.

What did you think of the trailer?  What surprised you?  What looks good?  What doesn’t?