Okay, so we’ll conclude our series of politically themed drinks with, er, the Communist. And yeah, I forgot this was going to be my last post before Thanksgiving. I won’t even try to connect this one to the holiday.
Indeed, I’m really not in a mood to explain just what a communist is and how that’s not the same thing at all as being a socialist like H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw or Bernie Sanders. Suffice it to say, I’m pretty strongly opposed to Leninist/Stalinist/Maoist-type communists (there are a million other flavors, some of which may be more benign) and I pretty much am a socialist. You can look up the rest for yourself. I’m frankly exhausted and a little bit nervous, though hopefully the turkey and starch will be calming me down next week.
Fortunately, we have a drink that could be just the right thing for a case of nerves and for health, whatever it might be called. It’s got a relatively high fresh juice content with a fairly modest amount of sugar and less alcohol than your average classic-era mixed drink. This one comes directly from the pages of “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails” by Ted Haigh, aka Dr. Cocktail. During this still somewhat tense and unwholesome week, it might be just what the doctor ordered.
I begin writing this week’s post just a couple of days before an election that will probably increase the per-capita liquor consumption nationwide among a great many of us, myself very likely included. Even in this cocktail column, I’ve never kept my political leanings any kind of a secret and I’m certainly not going to start now. Don’t worry, though, I’m not about to go into some political tirade — you can see those on my Facebook page any time you want! — but just to say that, among the things I am going to keep fighting for is the ability to enjoy your life as you see fit. Cocktails are a part of that.
It’s just a few days before our fate is decided at the ballot box — or at least that’s usually the way it goes — and so I have a drink that is, 
Halloween, at least officially, is on Monday, so I have a seasonally appropriate drink of my own creation. It does not reference anything supernatural, but it does reference something scary and monstrous. I speak, of course, of the presidential election. I call it the October Surprise.
If you’ve heard the name “Buster Brown” at all, you’re probably thinking of a line of kids’ shoes. However, you may not know that these shoes were not named for the guy who started the footwear line. Buster Brown was a popular comic strip character from the early 20th century created by Richard F. Outcault, a comics pioneer who’s perhaps slightly better remembered by modern graphic storytelling geeks for the Yellow Kid.
