Portal Combat

Tales of the Monolith, Part VI

“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not.
Both are equally terrifying.”

– Arthur C. Clarke

It might seem like an incredible coincidence that space puzzles have appeared en masse at B&B headquarters and on these pages at the same time that UFO sightings and research into “unidentified aerial phenomena” have recently become topics of mainstream media, supported with serious comments and acknowledgements by distinguished high ranking officials including a US senator and the former directors of the CIA and National Intelligence. But ever since the appearance of the Monolith, anything seems possible!

According to Arthur C. Clarke, the Monolith ought to be an evolutionary accelerator. At least, that’s what it turned out to be in 2001, A Space Odyssey (major spoiler alert). I’ve always thought of it as more of a “portal”. But it turns out that there is another portal, and perhaps all of this messing around in space ships has been a colossal waste of time. Why take the space highway when you can just teleport from point A to B in an instant? From Dee Dixon, purveyor of DED Wood Crafts in Boise, Idaho, comes the next best thing in interplanetary travel. This beautiful little box features a circle accented with brightly colorful exotic woods (wenge and paduak on my copy) on each side – are they, perhaps, portals of some kind?

The origins of this puzzle box are rather murky and shrouded in mystery. From Dee: “I woke in the middle of the night with an idea for a new puzzle. I threw off the covers and went to my office to jot down my idea before I forgot. I went back to sleep smiling. When I woke in the morning I went back to my office and was greeted with nonsensical jargon and sketches that resembled doodles made by a toddler. Luckily I remembered enough that I could start prototyping my idea. After several iterations I had a working puzzle. Cool!” Is anyone else sensing there might have been alien inception involved here? Dee crowdsourced the name and chose well from the most popular suggestion. It’s a great name for a striking box.

Dee’s creation is a lot of fun, with plenty to discover and lots of explorable movements. It’s dynamic, with some surprising elements to make you smile including a very clever start and a sequential discovery aspect. It won’t mess with your head and make you feel properly probed like his “Space Case” does, which is a good thing, and it provides plenty of mystery with a lot of satisfaction. Portal will take you on a pleasantly puzzling journey.

Clean, simple, elegant and surprising are the descriptors for this puzzle portal and the recipe for a drink to pair it with as well. The name really says it all, and became a portmanteau for the cocktail. Port, the first half of the name, is a Portuguese fortified sweet wine typically served for dessert, with many expressions. Only wines made from grapes grown in Portugal’s Duoro Valley region can technically be called port. The region is an ancient home for wine making - the planet’s oldest - and is a UNESCO world Heritage site. Tawny port is a very sweet variety which has been wood barrel aged, often for decades, a process which imparts a nutty, caramel flavor to the wine due to oxidation.

Bonal, or officially, Bonal Gentiane-Quina, is a French aperitif known as “ouvre l’appétit”, the key to the appetite. Similar to a vermouth, it has a mistelle red wine base which has been infused with proprietary herbs and botanicals including gentian and cinchona to give it a bitter balance. Nonetheless Bonal is a sweeter aperitif that makes it ideal to sip in the late afternoon with some tonic and lemon. For the Portal cocktail, I experimented with various additions to the two main namesake ingredients, trying bourbon, or citrus, and many other things, but in the end settled on the simplicity of a two ingredient drink. Sometimes, less is more. Cheers!

Portal

1 ½ oz Port

1 ½ oz Bonal

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Garnish with an orange peel circle.

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