Oh The Humanities – Hum 110 Inspired Cocktails

Harry Mersmann ’82 helmed a Hum 110 Alumni Book Club this year, and he enriched his group’s virtual romp through the syllabus by creating a cocktail recipe for them to enjoy from their own homes. Harry shares these recipes with all who are interested, to accentuate their own visit to ancient Sumer and Babylon, Pharaonic Egypt, ancient Israel and Yehud, the Persian empire, and the archaic and classical Greek city-states.

Unit I: Gilgamesh / The Limits of Civilization: Walls and Other Boundaries

For Gilgamesh, given how much death there is in the text, I went simple with a Death in the Afternoon (1 ½ oz absinthe topped with 5oz sparkling wine), although Hemingway might have been cranky.

Unit II: Sinuhe & Eloquent Peasant / Hierarchies and Boundary Crossing

Sinuhe’s Journey Cocktail

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Pomegranate juice (symbolizing life and fertility)
  • 1.5 oz  Gin (representing the journeys and encounters)
  • 0.5 oz Honey syrup (1:1 honey and water, for sweetness)
  • 0.5 oz Fresh lemon juice (for balance)
  • 1 oz Fresh cucumber juice (for a refreshing note)
  • A dash of cardamom bitters (to evoke the spices of the ancient world)
  • Fresh mint leaves (for garnish)
  • Pomegranate seeds (for garnish)

Method:

  1. Prepare the Cucumber Juice: Blend fresh cucumber and strain to extract the juice.
  2. Mix the Ingredients: In a cocktail shaker, combine pomegranate juice, gin, honey syrup, lemon juice, cucumber juice, and a dash of cardamom bitters.
  3. Shake: Fill the shaker with ice and shake well until chilled.
  4. Strain and Serve: Strain the mixture into a chilled glass filled with ice.
  5. Garnish: Top with fresh mint leaves and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds.
  6. Enjoy: Sip and reflect on Sinuhe’s adventures and the rich tapestry of ancient Egypt.

Optional Twist:

For a sparkling version, top with a splash of soda water or sparkling wine to add effervescence, reminiscent of the Nile’s vitality.

This cocktail captures the essence of Sinuhe’s journey through the use of rich, vibrant flavors and symbolic ingredients, making it a delightful nod to the ancient narrative!

Unit III: Genesis / Making Order

The Forbidden Fruit

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz Honeycrisp apple vodka
  • 1 oz Peach Vodka
  • ½ oz lemon juice
  • 6 oz lemon-lime soda

Method:

Serve over ice in a Collins glass or even better, a hollowed-out pineapple, orange, papaya, or coconut. Garnish with your choice of earthly delights or an edible orchid.

Unit IV: Exodus and Theogony / Making Order II

The Burning Bush Cocktail

A fiery, aromatic drink with layers of flavor to evoke the spiritual and dramatic journey of Exodus.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz mezcal (symbolizing the smoky presence of the burning bush)
  • 1 oz pomegranate juice (representing the plagues and sacrifice, as pomegranate is a biblical fruit)
  • 0.5 oz honey syrup (milk and honey: the Promised Land)
  • 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice (purification and renewal)
  • Dash of bitters (reminders of bitterness in slavery)
  • Sprig of fresh rosemary (burning bush garnish)
  • Optional: edible gold dust (symbolizing wealth and idolatry, like the golden calf)

Method:

  1. Add mezcal, pomegranate juice, honey syrup, lemon juice, and bitters to a shaker with ice.
  2. Shake well until chilled.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
  4. Light a sprig of rosemary on fire briefly, extinguish, and place it in the drink as a garnish to represent the burning bush.

Unit VII: The Oresteia / Democracy, Citizenship and Exclusion

The House of Atreus

Style: Smoked, complex, and bittersweet. A dark Greek twist on a Manhattan.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Metaxa 7-Star Brandy (Greek brandy, smooth and spiced)
  • 0.75 oz Sweet Vermouth (symbolic of the tangled web of fate)
  • 0.25 oz Cherry Heering (for the bloodline… and the blood)
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters (for the bitter weight of justice)
  • 1 dash orange bitters (citrusy contrast to balance fate and revenge)
  • Optional: A smoke rinse (burning rosemary or oak woodchip, for that sacrificial temple vibe)

Garnish:

  • Luxardo cherry speared through a bay leaf (bay for Apollo, the god who ultimately sanctions Orestes’ revenge)
  • Orange peel, flamed

Glassware:

  • Coupe or Nick & Nora

Instructions:

  1. If using, prepare your smoke rinse by capturing smoke in the glass (burn a sprig of rosemary or woodchip, invert the glass over it for a few seconds).
  2. In a mixing glass with ice, stir the brandy, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering, and both bitters until well chilled.
  3. Strain into the smoke-rinsed glass.
  4. Garnish with the bay-leaf-cherry spear and a flamed orange peel.

Mood:

To be sipped slowly while contemplating divine justice, blood oaths, and the price of retribution. This is a drink that honors Clytemnestra’s cunning, Agamemnon’s arrogance, and Orestes’ tragic duty.

Unit VIII: Thucydides / Speech in Crisis

The Peloponnesian Old Fashioned

This is a brooding, contemplative take on the classic Old Fashioned. It combines Athenian elegance with Spartan austerity, symbolizing the war between ideals and realities. Aged spirits represent history’s weight, while bitters and herbs capture the war’s moral ambiguity. A cocktail best enjoyed slowly, in deep conversation about fate, politics, and the unchanging nature of human ambition.


Ingredients:

  • 2 oz barrel-aged Greek Metaxa 12 Stars (or a quality brandy or bourbon if unavailable)
  • 0.25 oz spiced honey syrup (honey, cinnamon, clove, black pepper)
  • 2 dashes black walnut bitters
  • 1 dash Peychaud’s bitters (for a hint of drama and complexity)
  • Expressed lemon peel
  • Sprig of thyme (symbolizing remembrance and valor)

Method:

  1. Combine Metaxa (or chosen base spirit), spiced honey syrup, and bitters in a mixing glass with ice.
  2. Stir deliberately, like a general weighing the cost of war.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
  4. Express lemon peel over the drink and drop it in.
  5. Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme, slightly singed for aroma—like the smoldering remnants of a besieged city.

Unit VIII pt 2: Plato / Speech in Crisis

The Socratic Hemlock

This drink is a philosophical paradox in a glass—simple yet profound, herbal yet bright. It pays homage to Socrates’ calm acceptance of death in Apology and his rational refusal to escape prison in Crito. The name references the infamous poison Socrates drank, but this version invites reflection, not demise.  This is a drink for those unafraid to examine their convictions—and to sit with questions that have no easy answers.


Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz gin (preferably herbaceous, like Hendrick’s or a Greek gin such as Grace)
  • 0.5 oz green Chartreuse (symbolizing hemlock—bitter, herbal, mysterious)
  • 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice (clarity and moral sharpness)
  • 0.25 oz honey syrup (2:1 honey to water — tempering the bitterness with ethical sweetness)
  • 1 dash celery bitters (a nod to the philosopher’s austerity and reason)
  • Fresh sage leaf (garnish—representing wisdom)

Method:

  1. Shake all ingredients with ice.
  2. Double strain into a coupe glass.
  3. Garnish with a single sage leaf placed gently on the surface.
  4. Optional: Serve with a small side of chilled water—mirroring Socratic dialogue: the companion to a deep experience.

I encourage you to craft a cocktail and sit down with the accompanying book from the syllabus; perhaps a few ounces of Metaxa help make Agamemnon more sympathetic!

Looking forward to mescal in Year Two,

Tess Buchannan ’21

Foster’s Quest: Reunions Scavenger Hunt

On an otherwise unremarkable spring day in 1915, William T. Foster, Reed’s first President, strolls toward Sallyport, lost in thought. Life is a course charted between knowledge and ignorance, light and dark, truth and fiction – indeed, between Lux and Nox, the two grotesques guarding the portal as he enters. Where to guide his nascent College, newly troubled by adversity? And it is this question, posed precisely between these two poles, exactly as he enters the portal, that bends the fabric of time toward an answer and propels him out the other side… into 2025!

Reunion-goers have the chance to pick up the quest–your task is to help him return to his time by deciphering 11 clues to 11 locations around Reed Campus, enjoying a rather pleasant tour while collecting one letter at each locale. Then, gathering together those letters, you have only to unscramble them into a four-word phrase and you have saved the day. But more: the first 250 to show their work at Prexy earn a special keepsake reward – and yes, boundless glory!The Scoutbook you’ll pick at Prexy contains valuable information to spark your quest, or pick up the trail at any of the 11 locations if you happen upon one over the weekend.

Scavenger hunt designed by Matt Giraud ’85

Reed’s Annual Festival Of Learning

If there’s one thing that unites Reedies, it’s our love for learning, and that’s what Paideia is all about. This year, Paideia will take place from Saturday, January 18, to Sunday, January 26, and will include an array of classes taught by students, professors, and alumni. With some returning courses such as “Building Reed College in Minecraft”, “Reed College Survivor,” and “The Art of Pokemon Battling” along with some new ones like “World Domination 110: the Reed Alumni Agenda”, there’s classes for everyone!

As we move towards post-pandemic life, Paideia is once again open for all Reed community members, which includes alumni, so we hope to see you there!

Excited to take classes with no exams,

Taliah Churchill ’25

Ft: some pictures from years past:

Paideia 2016, The Folly of Frack
Paideia 1018, class unknown

Paideia 2023, class unknown
Paideia 2023, fencing

Party at PIE to toast Reed Switchboard

switchboard_bannerTime flies when you’re incubating a fabulous idea! You may recall that last summer Reed Switchboard, the networking site created to share Reed love, was given a boost by Wieden & Kennedy as part of the ad firm’s Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE). The brainchild of Mara Zepeda ’02 and Sean Lerner ’10, Switchboard was one of only seven tech start-ups selected for this collaboration with tech entrepreneurs; it was given $20,000 in seed money, office space at Wieden+Kennedy, and three months of hands on mentorship from past PIE winners. Since then Switchboard has further polished its business plan and signed up Reed College as its first client!

To celebrate all of this growth and innovation, we invite you to an open house at the Switchboard pad within Wieden+Kennedy in Portland’s Pearl District:

Thursday, February 20, 6 – 8 p.m.
Wieden+Kennedy, 224 NW 13th Ave.
Note: Please enter on NW 12th, just north of Davis

RSVP to alumni@reed.edu.

The great griffin float emerges!

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Dearest Comrades:

I have always wanted to write one of these letters, and they're finally letting me! And yes, it has been censored so you will have to use your decoders to get the real message. Reedfayre '12 (the event formally known as Reunions) is upon us, and there is a special treat for all: the griffin float! If you haven't heard already, Reed is entering a float in the Portland Rose Festival's Grand Floral Parade. All of the floats have traditionally been built by one company, but of course as Reedies we wanted to build our own.

I have been privileged to work with the group of "local" Reedies (for whom the apple didn't land far from the tree), and we have been working on it for a while now. It is pretty awesome. The fun never stops! I promise anyone who shows up to lend a hand a ride around campus. There will be fun and games, food and drink, and a late night viewing of Animal House while sitting on the float. The Rose Festival parade is the weekend after Reedfayre, and I would like to encourage everyone to stay the week, help decorate the float with flowers and come cheer or participate in the parade on Saturday, June 9. 

It has been a fabulous time building this amazing vehicle, please come back for a ride down memory lane!* I know it is getting close, but if you are at all able to return for Reedfayre, this will be a most memorable experience, I assure you.

Sincerely looking forwards to a fabulous weekend,

–Rob Mack '93

*See one of Rob's earliest conveyances, the MOSPUD, as well as other creations from Renn Fayres past. 

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Reed’s Rose Festival Float

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for ReedRoseFestFloat_1936.jpgWith Reed students’ propensity for recombinant construction and conveyance, it is no surprise that the college entered a float in Portland’s Rose Festival Parade as early as 1936.  While the details are murky, we have this one photo, as well as this plaque commemorating Reed’s third-place “prize” position.

 

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Fast forward to 2012, the close of our centennial year, and a merry band of intrepid engineers is hard at work on an automated griffin for the new century!  Rob Mack ’93 and Mike Teskey, director of alumni relations, have led the effort to craft a unique float to roll in Portland’s 100th Grand Floral Parade on Saturday, June 9.

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Assisted by Zac Perry, canyon restoration specialist, Ben Lund ’93 from mail services, Dan Schafer ’92, Martha Richards ’92, Lars Fjelstad ’92, and other alumni, this group of volunteers has been hammering out the creation over the past several weeks.  See Dan’s photos, as well as this artist’s rendering that serves as inspiration and imagine a griffin that can flap its wings (and possibly more!).

An early model got a test run at Renn Fayre, delivering the Reed Meat Smoke victuals to the feast!  There is yet more work to be done, and we welcome help from all members of the Reed community.  Stay tuned for a decorating sign-up sheet to be available soon; we’ll begin the beautification process at Reunions ’12: Reedfayre, so sign up today!

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Pop-Up Oyster Bar!

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Jon Rowley ’69 rousted ten dozen Totten Inlet oysters out of bed in Olympia to bring to Reed’s “Working Weekend,” February 3-5. This “pop-up oyster bar” appeared in the library lobby late afternoon on Saturday and was met with much enthusiasm. 

Jon is a marketing consultant for Taylor Shellfish Farms, and while on campus he met Lillian Kuehl ’09, lab manager at Taylor Shellfish, for the first time. “I had heard about this Reed student that worked at the Taylor hatchery but had never met her, so it was fun to work our pop-up oyster bar with her.”  Soon enough, David Autrey ’89 and Amy Wesselman ’91 happened along with some of their Westrey wine to serve as a perfect complement for the marine feast. 

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Pleased that the impromptu oyster tasting was well received, Jon later commented that it “turned out to be a perfect little adjunct to Working Weekend, an example of how there is always room, with a little entrepenurial spirit, for a good idea.” Also, he was tickled that a good number of students had their first oyster that day. His old friend Hannah Fishman ’14 lent a hand, learning the art of shucking for the first time. 

See photos of the lovely Totten Inlet Virginicas and Shigoku oysters, and their fans, on his Flickr page.

Reed Alumni Holiday Party 2011

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More rapid than owls, his coursers they came.?

And he whistled and shouted, and called them by name;?

Now Diver! Now Doyle! Now Chittick and Ladd!?

On Foster! On Scholz! On Quincy in plaid!?

So up to the holiday party they flew 

for dinner with friends and dancing too.


(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

Alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends reveled at the annual Reed Alumni Holiday Party on Saturday, December 17, 2011. View photos of the general festivities as well as individual glamour shots for download (password: reed).

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