LCPP - Part VII

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

- Lewis Carroll

Canadian wood worker and puzzle box artist Kelly Snache’s contribution to the Lewis Carroll Puzzle Project, “There Goes Bill!”, is one of the most visually creative and vibrant boxes in the set. It looks like a little house, replete with a shuttered window, a ladder and broomstick, a brick chimney and a glimpse inside where we find, lo and behold!, a massive Alice, grown too large to contain herself and bursting to get out. Kel explains, “We all had pre-selected characters from the story to choose from.  While some chose to pick the ever popular Alice or other main characters, I felt drawn to the lizard Bill, lol.  Whether it be a reptilian relation thing or what I cannot say, but I felt drawn.  It had been a very, very long time since I read the book, and for me the literal words were more important then taking cues from movie adaptations, so I read the parts surrounding Bill's part in the story.”

From the book Alice in Wonderland: “She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came a rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices all talking together: she made out the words: “Where’s the other ladder?—Why, I hadn’t to bring but one; Bill’s got the other—Bill! fetch it here, lad!—Here, put ’em up at this corner—No, tie ’em together first—they don’t reach half high enough yet—Oh! they’ll do well enough; don’t be particular—Here, Bill! catch hold of this rope—Will the roof bear?—Mind that loose slate—Oh, it’s coming down! Heads below!” (a loud crash)—“Now, who did that?—It was Bill, I fancy—Who’s to go down the chimney?—Nay, I shan’t! You do it!—That I won’t, then!—Bill’s to go down—Here, Bill! the master says you’re to go down the chimney!”

“Oh! So Bill’s got to come down the chimney, has he?” said Alice to herself. “Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn’t be in Bill’s place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but I think I can kick a little!”

She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited till she heard a little animal (she couldn’t guess of what sort it was) scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above her: then, saying to herself “This is Bill,” she gave one sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen next.

The first thing she heard was a general chorus of “There goes Bill!”

Pay attention closely to the passage and you’ll have a good idea of the story to be told by this puzzle box. Again from Kel, “Right away I saw the relevance of the way Alice was depicted as being so large she could lean up against the door at one side of the house and kick Bill up out of the Chimney with her foot.  Some of us were given the opportunity to make a box larger then the 3x3x3 but a 4x4x3!  I chose the larger as it gave me more room to build a house looking design.” Kel lets his creative process flow naturally from an initial idea outward, something he calls “intuitive design”, and he believes in the synchronicity of events. Once he had built the initial frame and other details, he noticed that the original drawing of the scene from the book, by Sir John Tenniel, would fit perfectly along one side of his little “house”. He let his ultimate destination guide him step by step, but allowed the box to “build itself” one step at a time. In his own words, he is a “spiritual guy, so there is much below the surface of the physical act of the creating.  I apply much of this awareness to my craft and as a result I 'know' it has effect.  Optimal Harmonics is a term I coined that refers to the practice of applying positive frequencies intentionally to the benefit of creating a positive field of energy around us that ultimately influences how/what we manifest.”

It seemed fitting to me to recreate the scene as well for the cocktail pairing to toast Kel’s beautifully whimsical puzzle box. To that end I applied the story of little Bill the Lizard metaphorically to the classic Jabberwock cocktail, in keeping with the theme for all the pairings for this project. The Jabberwock has a base spirit of gin, but as anyone knows, the spirit of choice for any self-respecting lizard is tequila. I used a medium-aged reposado, my favorite type. Reposado means “rested”, and refers to tequila that has aged in an oak barrel (often a white-oak whiskey type barrel) for at least two months, or for up to one year. The aging imparts a golden hue, and greater complexity of flavor. The Caperitif vermouth of the original remains, but the dry sherry ingredient is replaced with a delicious blend of two sherries called East India Solera. The name refers to the East India Trading Company that first created this blend of 80% Oloroso and 20% Pedro Ximenez. The result is a delicious dark amber hued, rich and mature sherry that is not as sweet as pure Ximenez.

There are a few specific elements added to these ingredients that help tell the story. For the chimney, there is a bit of smoke added with an intensely peaty scotch blend from Compass Box Distillery, and a bit of fire added with a dash of Habanero Hellfire Bitters, which is essentially a tasty tincture of hot peppers. Finally, and not to be missed, is the hero of the story, little Bill, who is represented by a rinse of green absinthe in the glass. I like to add just a hint of sugar to all this spice, which settles and amplifies the flavors just right. Here’s to Bill, our everyman hero who is just trying to do some good in the world and help out, and gets kicked in the ass for his trouble. As Kelly Snache likes to say, may he manifest a beautiful day. Cheers!

There Goes Bill!

1 oz reposado tequila

¼ oz Peat Monster scotch

¾ oz East India Solera sherry

¾ oz Caperitif

Absinthe rinse

Barspoon demerara (brown sugar) syrup

1 d Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub

Stir the ingredients together with ice and strain into a little glass. Garnish with a lime peel lizard.

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