“I’m getting y’all drunk tonight,” Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan promised us, eliciting uproarious laughter that filled the quaint Las’ Lap rum bar on the Lower East Side of New York City on a recent wintry night.
During a 20-minute mixology lab ahead of this year’s upcoming Academy Awards on February 24, the 32-year-old actor taught us how to make a Black Panther-inspired cocktail called the King Cuatro. Jordan, who plays Black Panther’s powerful nemesis Killmonger in the Oscar-nominated superhero movie, and Las’ Lap beverage director Darnell Holguin led the mixology class using these ingredients:
- 2 blackberries
- 1.5 parts Bacardí Añejo Cuatro
- 0.5 part St-Germain elderflower liqueur
- 0.25 part honey
- 0.75 part lemon juice
- Martini & Rossi prosecco
- Blackberry-speared purple orchid, for garnish
Method: In a cocktail shaker, muddle the blackberries. Pour in the Bacardí, St-Germain, honey and lemon juice. Shake [[with ice?]] and then strain into acoupe glass. Top with prosecco and garnish with the blackberry-speared purple orchid.
Jordan was a meticulously attentive mixologist. If people needed help crushing blackberries, he didn’t dismiss their obvious attempt to just get the magnetic star closer to them; he muddled those blackberries for them while flashing a smile that cut through the dimly lit Las’ Lap. One woman was heavy-handed on her pour due to her catatonic gaze on Jordan, which he broke with a sly wink, as any good bartender worth his tip would deliver. The drink itself is sweet with a lightly bitter aftertaste, like the feeling you get after you begin to side with Killmonger in Black Panther.
Jordan told ONE37pm that the King Cuatro cocktail has a deeper connection to him than just his Barcardí brand endorsement: “We were just messing around with a couple different things, different flavors. Then we thought of Black Panther, so we were like, ‘All right, we got to go with a blackberry.’ Four is my favorite number, so it just worked out” (to name it the King Cuatro).
ONE37pm snagged a few moments with Jordan for this lightning round of questions.
What was your go-to mixed drink to make before the King Cuatro?
Michael B. Jordan: Probably Henny and Coke or Henny and cream soda.
Did you use your mixology talents on your Black Panther costars on set?
Jordan: I haven’t done that. This is actually my first time making a drink for this many people. [Dozens.]
Would you ever own your own liquor?
Jordan: I’m not sure. I’m really selective about who I partner with and what I put my name in front of. So I’m not saying no to it, but it has to be the right situation.
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