Dr. Rieux

“Then came the second phase of conflict, tears and pleadings—abstraction, in a word. In those fever-hot, nerve-ridden sickrooms crazy scenes took place.” – Dr. Rieux, The Plague (Albert Camus)

Dr. Rieux cocktail

Albert Camus published his famous work of existential fiction and social commentary, The Plague, in 1947, and the words ring true now as ever. He based his novel, about an epidemic of bubonic plague that ravaged the French Algerian town of Oran, on the historic cholera epidemic that afflicted that town in 1849, while setting the novel in the present (at the time he wrote it). Oran had a long history of plague, which decimated the town in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well. The novel is narrated by Dr. Bernard Rieux, who tries to convince everyone to take the threat seriously, until it becomes too late. Characters wallow in their own self despair and pity, facing isolation alone, initially, but come to see the common plight and their role in overcoming it as a community eventually. It is astounding how similar the human condition remains throughout time.

You’ll rue not making this one

Dr. Rieux is also a lovely cocktail, and just what the doctor ordered for this pairing. The recipe can be found in Difford’s Guide, spirits writer Simon Difford’s comprehensive drinks compendium, where it credits a recipe from shuttered New York French restaurant Vaucluse. While open, bartender and historian Michael Longshore headed the bar program, so we may have traced the origins, but investigations continue. Regardless of origins, the cocktail is a deliciously complex prescription of fine apple brandy, light rum, and the delightfully odd Swedish Punsch, itself a delicious Jakarta rum infused with dark sugar and Java spices. The drink is almost too tasty to merit the reference to its namesake, a healer plagued by the futility of fighting a pestilence against human nature. But it may just cure what ails you. Cheers!

“What we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.” – Dr. Rieux, The Plague (Albert Camus)

An infectiously delightful pair

Dr. Rieux, Difford’s Guide

1 oz Calvados

1 oz white rum

¾ oz Swedish Punsch

½ oz Orange Curacao

¾ oz lemon

¼ oz Demerara syrup (2:1)

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite coup with sugared rim. Garnish with a lemon twist, or Covid lemon wheel.