Exploding heads – a truly strange phenomenon that appears to have gripped the country in recent years with the first cases arising around June of 2015 and reaching a fever pitch last November. One year ago today, to be exact. Medical analysis would indicate that the problem is not going away anytime soon. Sad! Such a strange occurrence indeed but one which can also be found on a funny TV series, in my dreams and now in the martini glass. But drinks before psychoanalysis.
The cocktail version of an Exploding Head owes its name to the habanero pepper. Petite but potent, how much of your head you would like to annihilate rests purely on how much pepper you use and the length of time you allow it to infuse the drink’s designated spirit; whiskey. Muddle a quarter pepper into the whiskey for 20-30 seconds and you generate a pleasant heat. Muddle more pepper for longer, or leave it in the shaker and mix with all the other ingredients and you end up with something that is more along the lines of “blow the back of your head off.” Drinking this version will generally be accompanied by much hopping around the kitchen and wide, watery eyes. My husband can certainly attest to this during my test runs!
So you made an Exploding Head and have taken a sip. To distract you from the raging inferno in your mouth, here’s something: did you know that there is actually such a thing as exploding head syndrome? Well, there is, and I know because I have suffered from it myself. It goes like this: you’re suddenly awakened in the middle of the night to a loud noise which sounds very real, yet upon sitting up, in the dark, all will be quiet. Apparently what people hear varies: cymbals crashing, people yelling or screaming. Mine always sounds like a very loud gunshot or bomb exploding.
Years ago on a visit to Portland, Oregon, it was a hot summer’s night and the windows were open. I was woken by what sounded like a huge explosion to such a degree that when I leapt out of bed to look outside I expected to see a huge mushroom cloud floating above the city. I was greeted by total darkness and utter silence. Nobody else woke up.
The following morning, despite everyone else swearing up and down that they had heard not a thing, I was so convinced that something had occurred somewhere, that I began googling it. But nothing. Except for me being very confused. On returning home it happened a handful of more times over the course of the next few months, although nothing quite as loud again. By this point I had convinced myself that it must be something to do with my dreams and didn’t think too much of it, especially as I do have something of a history of rather violent and bizarre dreams.
Fast forward a couple of years and I was watching something on TV (can’t for the life of me remember what it was now) but they briefly talked about something called exploding head syndrome. At first I thought it was a joke but I immediately googled it, and there it was. Real. No joke. All my symptoms, which are, fortunately, all benign. So… there you have it. File that one under strange but true.
And along similar lines…should you be in desperate need of an explanation as to what is going on in Washington right now (because who isn’t?), watch Braindead on Amazon. It’s absolutely hilarious and goes such a long way to explaining a few things that I am convinced the show is based on fact. The only mystery left is why it didn’t get a lot more buzz and why it was cancelled after only one season. It has some fabulous people in it, it’s brilliantly written and acted and is tongue-in-cheek funny, funny, funny. Go watch it. Right now. Really. I’ll wait for you and we can discuss it when you get back.
Exploding Head Cocktail
- 2 oz whiskey
- 2 oz fresh orange juice
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz Pok Pok honey drinking vinegar
- habanero pepper
- Take a small piece of habanero pepper and muddle it with the whiskey in a cocktail shaker. Remove (or leave in, the choice is yours).
- Add the remaining ingredients as well as 4-5 ice cubes and shake well
- It’s that simple. So much simpler than, say, politics. Enjoy.
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