Have you spotted all of them? Deep dive into the secrets of the French Dispatch Drinks
Before we start: you’ll be happy to know that this article does not contain spoilers.
If you’re looking for something new to watch this weekend you’re on the right spot. The French Dispatch, the latest movie by director Wes Anderson, is now available on Disney+, and it’s absolutely amazing! Set in the 1960s in an imaginary French small village called Ennui-sur-Blasé, it tells the story about the last number published by the French Dispatch, a New Yorker-like magazine founded by Arthur Howitzer Jr (played by Bill Murray).
If you have already seen and loved the movie, you have probably noticed that alongside a five star cast (Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, and Timothée Chalamet are just a few of them) the other main characters of the French Dispatch are the drinks and cafès. In the opening scene, when the narrator presents the journalists from the dispatch, we can see that a barista from Café Des Imprimeurs (at the bottom of the building) is setting up a tray with coffee, a bottle of white wine, a coke, a weird drink, and a couple of colorful glasses, and he's bringing them up, directly into the Dispatch newsroom (five floors higher). Did you wonder if they were real? We did that too, and you’ll be surprised to know the answers.
Chateau Schostal White Wine
What do we know about the Chateau Schostal white wine? In the movie we can spot some details about the bottle: we know that it is a white dry wine, and that it was bottled at the Castle. It is also perfect for a quick aperitif, but does the wine still exist and is it possible to buy it? Unfortunately, searching on the internet, it seems that a place called Schostal never existed, neither a castle. While Schostal is an old brand that makes clothes in Rome, it seems impossible to find a winemaker with the same name.
Weird cocktail or, as we called it: “The Anderson’s Prairie Oyster”
The weird cocktail that the barista prepares and pour into the shot glass could be a revised version of the cocktail known as Prairie Oyster. The drink has been named that way because it looks like an oyster, but while the original recipe does not include an actual oyster (only Vodka, Worcestershire sauce, egg, and black pepper) the one in the movie does.
Another way to prepare the drink is by using Cognac, and given the setting so our final guess is that the drink is prepared with: 20ml Cognac, 1 egg yolk, 1 actual oyster and a drizzle of tabasco. Would you try it?
Half drink, half dessert
Another component of the tray is the Affogato, a popular and fresh dessert loved by Italian people, made with cream ice cream with the addition of espresso coffee (most popular version) or hot chocolate, or spirit.
It’s half a dessert and half a drink, because the hot coffee melts the ice cream, therefore, at the end of the glass, it usually forms a delicious creamy drink that you can sip at the end of the meal.
Colorful aperitifs
The last two drinks of our journey through Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch are two colorful aperitifs, one orange and one red, even though we do not have any clue of what they actually are, we can make some guesses. The red one could be a Vermouth or a Byrrh (the oldest version of Vermouth), it’s a French spirit really popular in the country. It is a bit strong, but it can be drunk plain or with the addition of white sparkling wine.
The second one could be the Aperol, the same rules apply for this spirit: good with wine or sipped into a tiny glass with the addition of ice cubes.
