Ornament pictured was a gift from Jon and and his girlfriend more years ago than we can count.
In doing some initial research about cocktails based on the Clark’s Daily Planet co-workers, I stumbled across a Jimmy Olsen cocktail that I sent to Jon. He, of course, proceeded to ignore my suggestion and go off on a random tangent. On the plus side, I also found an ingredient list for a “Luscious Lois Lane” cocktail that’s apparently on the drinks menu of a Superman-themed restaurant: peach brandy, orange juice, and champagne. Essentially, this is a fuzzy navel without the champagne or a mimosa with peach brandy added. I don’t really know what that has to do with Lois Lane, but I’ll get to that later.
Since the cocktail idea I found listed components, but not proportions, I had to apply my budding mixology skills to developing the right blend. Having never tasted peach brandy before, my first step was to try a sip to ascertain its strength and personality - potent and sweet with notes of Robitussin. From there, I decided on a 1-2-3 ratio for my test run. For a classy broad like Lois, it seemed appropriate to use fresh-squeezed orange juice.1, so I broke out the vintage glass juice reamer that belonged to my great-grandmother Mildred. (Jon: “I had a great-aunt named Mildred!”)
The only kind of organic oranges they had at the store were Cuties, so I can additionally report that each Cutie yields approximately (and conveniently!) 1.5 ounces of juice. I shook 1.5 ounces of peach brandy and the juice of two Cuties in my new cocktail shaker (!) with plenty of ice, strained into a glass and topped off with approximately 4.5 ounces of prosecco (who wastes champagne on a cocktail?!), stirred and sampled. It’s...not bad. In my second attempt, I dialed up the orange juice to closer to a 1-3-3 ratio, and that was definitely preferable. Honestly, tomorrow I’m going to use up the rest of the prosecco and oranges on a real mimosa.
My verdict: One of the things I really enjoy about Lois Lane’s character is that, from her very first appearance in the 1930s, she is pretty consistently portrayed as a smart, uncompromising, no-nonsense career woman, which is especially surprising given the societal norms surrounding gender norms in our country in that era. But as a smart, uncompromising, no-nonsense career woman, it makes perfect sense to me that she is an ideal match for a superhero.
Ultimately, the so-called Luscious Lois Lane is a saccharine, bubbly concoction that is suited to a summer brunch (if we can agree to make brandy brunchable). Does that suit Lois Lane’s demeanor? In this intrepid reporter’s humble opinion, not at all. My husband, who has the dubious pleasure of taste testing these cocktails with me, agreed to go on record as saying, “This is more like a Chloe from Smallville.” I sense the need for a more complex cocktail to really do Lois justice; this requires further investigation...
