Welcome back to the spooky series, where we choose a film and create a fitting Cocktail to go alongside, I’ll give you a little history into each film and the know-how to create a delicious Cocktail.

Jaws

Jaws is one of the famous and classic pieces of work by Director Steven Spielberg and Composure John Williams, released on the 26th of December 1975, it had a budget of $9 million and grossed over 472 million USD in the box office, an overwhelming success which gave way to the created of 3 more films.

• Jaws (1975)
• Jaws 2 (1978)
• Jaws 3-D (1983)
• Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

Steven Spielberg was only involved in the first Jaws film, it was adapted from the original novel called ‘Jaws’, which was first published in 1974 by American writer Peter Benchley.

Jaws is a controversial movie to place on the Horror list, it’s one of those films like Die Hard, is it a Christmas movie or not? Jaws is the same, is it a Horror movie or not? it’s listed as an Adventure/Thriller, but it depends on your definition of horror, it defiantly contains that thriller element to it, but when does thriller spill over into horror? Whether you place Jaws in the horror category or not, it’s defiantly one of those films you could easily watch over the spooky season. So here are a couple of facts you may not have known about the movie.

• Both Steven Spielberg and Peter Benchley have a cameo in Jaws, if you haven’t seen them yet, keep an eye out next time you watch it.
• Brenchley had a few different titles for his book in mind, including “The Jaws of Death,” “The Silence of the Deep,” “The Stillness in the Water,” and “Leviathan Rising,” but as we all know he settled on the now-iconic word “Jaws”.
• It’s common knowledge to any big Jaws fan, that the mechanical shark was plagued with problems, it caused massive delays in the film, which was intentioned to take 65-days to shoot, but it turned into 159 days.
• The main character, Chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, got the part by overhearing Spielberg talking to a friend at a Hollywood party about the scene where the shark leaps out of the water and onto Quint’s boat, from that moment Scheider wanted to be involved, so he asked Spielberg if he could be in the film, Spielberg later said yes, because he loved his role in The French Connection
• Jaws in France is titled Teeth of the Sea
• The girl in the opening scene of Jaws had no idea that a shark attack was going to happen at that point, her reaction was as real as it gets, she reported complete fear and her legs hurt for a while afterward.

Thanks to Mental Floss for the Jaws facts, they have many more if you’re interested: 25 Incisive Facts About Jaws

The Sparkling Wine – Spielberg

Earlier this year I opened a bottle of Spielberg for my Tasting Vintage Sparkling Wines From Around The World – 2016 article and mentioned how good it would be to open a bottle of Spielberg and enjoy it while watching one of Steven Spielberg’s classic films, well today I did, while watching Jaws, I opened a bottle of Spielberg and created a unique movie-inspired Cocktail.

This Sparkling Wine is made in the Czech Republic, and although sharing the name of the famous director, they don’t have any connection, this Sparkling Wine delivers a great array of characters and is worth giving a try, you can find more on the Spielberg Website.

Spielberg – Crémant de Spielberg Brut 2016 – Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “Mango, mango yogurt hints of light pastry, kiwi, apricot and melon on the aroma.”

Flavour 👅 “A citrus burst of mango, kiwi which flows into nutty and yeasty flavours.”

This Sparkling Wine from Czech Republic Won a Silver Medal in the Zesty & Zingy Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2020

The Sunken Orca Cocktail

Ingredients

• Sparkling Wine
• Gin
• Blue Raspberry Sweetener
• Blue and Red Sugar or Salt
• Red Food Colouring
• Lemon Peel

How To Make The Sunken Orca Cocktail

1. Dip the rim of your glass into water, then dip it into your blue and red sugar or salt to create the decorated rim.
2. Pour in 15mls of Gin.
3. Top up with Sparkling Wine.
4. Pour in 10mls of Blue Raspberry Sweetener.
5. Then add a drop or two of red food colouring for effect.
6. Finally, drop in a few cut-up Lemon Peel slices to represent the yellow barrels onboard the Orca.

Tasting Notes

Aroma 👃 “A burst of lemon zest Incorporated with sweet red and dark red berries.”

Flavour 👅 “A calming taste of red fruits including red apple and red apple skin with red berries and blueberry candy, the flavours end with a zesty bite behind them leaving you with a lemon zest red berry flavour.”

Happy Halloween