Thinking Bat

Spooky season is upon us again! I love a well themed offering for both the Boxes and the Booze so I’m getting in the scary and breaking out the spirits. This Christmas present puzzle from Karakuri Creation Group’s Yoh Kakuda is actually perfect for Halloween, when all bats suddenly become Vampire bats.

I learned something about Vampire bats that ought to give everyone some relief from their fright. The unusual species does not actually suck the blood of mammals like cows and horses (and rarely, if given the chance, humans). No. Whew. Vampire bats only cut you with their sharp teeth and then lick the blood with their tongue. If you’ve ever solved certain puzzles, you know this makes a huge difference.

Kakuda’s bat is not like those other scary bats, though. It’s rather adorable, and will make you ponder … a little! In fact it is quite like a classic Kamei puzzle, in the way it mimics the object it reflects. Yoh recently told me a bit of the story. “I was thinking of a Christmas present idea. A simple but interesting box. I was going to make an animal on top of the box and have it rotate at first. But I wanted to make it simpler. So I made it just slide around.”

Yoh does not recall exactly why he thought to make a bat design. “Why was it a bat? Looking at my idea sketchbook, I can't remember why. It may have had something to do with the left-right movement. Strangely enough, I don't remember.....”

How mysterious, and spooky! Like the start of an eerie Halloween story …. “I added a device I wanted to do to the movement of the top panel. Every time the top board returns to the center, it clicks into place. This is a device often used by Kasho and Iwahara, members of KCG. You can specify the initial position and adjust the movement.” It is not surprising yet always interesting to see how the group’s craftspeople interact, inspire, borrow from and advise on another.

Kakuda is well known for weaving stories into his creations. The story is often the first step, the inspiration, and anchors the design. “Unusually for me, the box trick was made first. By combining the bats with that trick, I added the [key] element.”

But don’t despair, there is still a story here, which can be traced to an irreverent, goofy Japanese role playing video game for Nintendo called “Mother”. The sequel “Mother 2”, was also released in the US but was called “EarthBound”. Kakuda explains, “The “thinking bat” is derived from an enemy character in the game “MOTHER 2,” which I loved as a child. During battles, I often heard the expression “Mr. Bat is thinking about his position....” and as a child I thought the troubled Mr. Bat was interesting.”

Contrary to popular belief, this friendly thinking bat is not interested in blood or even bloody cocktails. He is much more sophisticated than that, and likes to hang out at swanky establishments like the Savoy in London. That’s where legendary barman Harry Craddock shook awake the dead with his famous Corpse Reviver cocktails, which are arguably the most Halloween of all classics. The drink, in general, was like a “hair o’ the dog” concoction that your barkeep would “prescribe” to revive you. The earliest reference to a Corpse Reviver is from 1871 but the most famous is the “No. 2” found in Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930, the same tome that served to inspire my series of Jabberwocky cocktails.

I’ve had it in mind for a while to develop a variation on the classic Corpse Reviver, which I have already featured here (for Halloween, too) in years past. This one would need a specific flavor profile of sweet aged raisin, which is present in certain sherry and madeira. In the original, which has equal parts gin, lemon, Lillet and Cointreau, the Lillet and Cointreau are the sweeter ingredients. Replacing the Lillet with Pedro Ximenez sherry, to get those raisin notes, takes some thoughtful adjustment in balance, since PX sherry has about 12 grams of sugar per oz while Lillet has only 2g per oz. I cut the PX ratio down, balanced it with dry vermouth and used dry curacao rather than Cointreau. Be prepared to fight off the undead hordes for this one, it’s delicious. Happy Halloween!

Raisin the Dead

¾ oz gin

¾ oz lemon

½ oz dry curacao

½ oz PX sherry

½ oz dry vermouth

2 dashes absinthe

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe. Lemon twist.

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