I’ve always thought that Anthony Powell surely got it right about Aleister Crowley. They had lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand, they ate saddle of lamb, and Powell concluded that although Crowley was absurd he was nevertheless terrifying.
Still, nobody’s all bad. In Olivia Williams’ Gin Glorious Gin she describes a cocktail Crowley supposedly invented at the Fitzroy Tavern in Charlotte Street, named the Kubla Khan No2 (no, I don’t know if there was a Kubla Khan No1).
It was, apparently, a standard gin and vermouth martini but topped off with laudanum.
Now, the name laudanum seems to have meant different things to different people at different times in history, but it always involves opium dissolved in alcohol.
The 17th century English physician Thomas Sydenham came up with a recipe that as well as opium, also involved cinnamon, cloves, saffron, castor, ambergris, musk and nutmeg. Now, depending on what gin you use, you may of course may find cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in your martini anyway. Ambergris is rather less likely.
Anthony Powell’s connection with Crowley came about via a book he was responsible for when he worked as a publisher, titled Tiger-Woman, the autobiography of Betty May (nee Elizabeth Golding) who recounted daily life in Crowley’s abbey on Sicily. Powell writes that ‘among other disagreeable ceremonies’ Crowley’s followers were sometimes required to sacrifice cats by decapitation, and then drink the poor kitty’s blood. ‘This cannot have been good for anyone’s health’ Powell concludes, wisely.
No comments:
Post a Comment