Heroes of the Frontier + Rob Roy
“Heroes of the Frontier” by Dave Eggers is a story about a woman just trying to live her life after a number of bad choices and life-altering events. Josie is a mother of two who has rented a rickety old RV, aptly named The Chateau, to take her two children on an Alaskan adventure. As the story unfolds, you find that it is not an adventure so much as an uprooting. She has recently split up with her children’s father, lost her successful dental practice, and is grieving the loss of a young patient who died in war. As Josie and her children travel across Alaska, they are plagued by disastrous forest fires and Josie ruminates on her current life situation. She spends this novel muddling along and continuing to makes a number of poor, and sometimes darkly comical, decisions as she tries to find her path. (Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)
Rob Roy
(As seen on Instagram via @bourbonthing)
While some of the events in Josie’s Alaskan saga don’t seem very realistic, her character is all too believable as a woman struggling in the middle of a difficult time in her life. Clearly, a Rob Roy is the most perfect drink to match this read. It is strong. A wallop one needs when they are in the center of a personal disaster. And that smokey scotch? Well, it is a none too subtle nod toward the dumpster fire that is Josie’s life and the Alaskan fires they are trying to escape.
Rob Roy
- 1.5oz Scotch (in this case, The Balvenie Doublewood 12)
- 0.75oz Sweet Vermouth
- 2 Dashes of Angostura Bitters
- Garnish with an Orange Peel
Stir all the booze into mixing glass with ice and strain into a chilled coup. Squeeze the orange peel garnish to get that orange goodness and toss into the glass. Some folks like to toss in a cherry… that’s up to you.
“Courage was the beginning, being unafraid, moving ahead, through small hardships, not turning back. Courage was simply a form of moving forward.”
