Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy

 There is a traveling troupe of actors that have found a nice niche of pairing Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories with signature cocktails. They did a very successful ad campaign on the facebooks. One of my closest friends decided to buy tickets for our core group and hoped it would be a surprise, but unfortunately, I saw the ads too, and thought about going, but noticed the dates matched my friends request to keep the night open. So.. I double checked before I double booked and yes, yes indeed she thought the same thing I did. In case this was not obvious, this was a temporary engagement that may or may not return.

We decided to meet up at one of the couples houses and have a quick lunch so we did not go in with empty stomachs. Then we decided to take an Uber to the park.

The information they provided said it was in This is the Place Heritage Park, but did not say where in the park it was, which kind of frustrated us as there are 12 rentable spaces within the park. After looking at them I came up with 4 guesses: The Kimball Home, The Pack Home, Ottinger Hall, and I thought less likely but also possible Brigham Young Academy. Luckily when we arrived we saw 1) signs directing us where to go (phew!) and 2) a long line of cars leaving the previous show so if no signs, we could have just followed that too haha.

It ended up being at the Garden Place. So all 4 of my guesses were wrong haha. It still kind of tickles me that we will be drinking alcohol at This is the Place! They got around the no alcohol rules by obtaining a temporary permit.

Little closer.

After a short introduction they started with The Tell-Tale Heart. Yay!

Originally published in 1843.

It was paired with a drink called Pale Blue Eye. “A Classic Twist on a Traditional Collins”.

There was a nice intermission between each short story that allowed me to explore some of their decorations. Here we have an interpretation of his desk.

Neat tapestry with The Raven.

The next drink we received was The Cat’s Meow. “A tasteful version of Poe's Favorite Brandy Milk Punch”.

That was paired with Black Cat. Which was quite a bit more horrific than I was expecting. I like Poe, but I had never read this one before so it was a surprise. Good thing it is a 21+ only event.

It was first published in 1843.

The next drink we got is the Nevermore “Quoth the Raven, Drinksomemore!” Snort. It was a vodka fruit punch type drink. I’ll give you 3 guesses on which story this was paired with.

That’s right, The Raven.

Originally published in 1845.

I took a quick video since it is my favorite. I thought they did a really good job performing the stories, and the music was just about perfect as well.

The hilarious host offering more puns than you can possibly imagine!

For our last drink we got a Cocktail of Red Death. “Our Spirited Nightcap is to Die For” Another vodka punch.

It was paired with The Masque of the Red Death.

From the middle.

This was first published in 1842.

They cycled the light color to go with each color of the rooms, but of course I only managed to capture blue. Doh!

Decorated trees.

Looking back at the Garden Place.

Originally we were the last show of the night, but I guess it proved to be more popular than they thought it would be so they added some additional shows.

That was a lot of fun! We absolutely need more events like this to come though Utah. It doesn’t always have to be as macabre as this was, but you know, art with alcohol pairings. It was a lot of fun and I would so do it again. But I am glad I did not double book. twice in 1 weekend would have been too much. But, if they ever come back, I would absolutely do it again. It was a fun night with some of my favorite people.