Black Cat #6 (2020)
Written by Jed MacKay
Artwork by Michael Dowling
Colors by Brian Reber
Chef’s Note: While we do not see the bottle’s label or have it identified specifically I feel quite confident that what they are drinking here, given Felicia’s taste for luxury and Georges relentless Frenchiness, is champagne.
This is further confirmed by Felicia’s proposal for energetic shenanigans.
As you likely know, champagne is a well-known athletic stimulant. Or, at least, once upon a time it was.
The favored beverage it seems was champagne. Ryle’s (1912:52) advice to the stale athlete was to “dose himself with a bottle of champagne,” while Graham (nd [1901]:33) suggested that the problem of fickle sprinters were “best cured by two pints of champagne.” Other than the stimulant effect of alcohol, helping the recovery of the strained athletes, champagne soothed “the irritated stomach” according to Michod (1874:18) and its “effervescence stimulates the system to fresher feeling.”
. . .
Champagne was considered a stimulant. And a lot of trainers — these guys had trainers — advised their pedestrians to drink a lot of champagne during the race. They thought that this would give them some kind of advantage. The problem was a lot of these guys would drink it by the bottle. That definitely was not a stimulant to say the least.
. . .
Chef’s Note: Happy National Champagne Day!
Popping the cork and toasting with sparkling, fizzy champagne as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve is a tradition in many households around the world. Why is champagne used to mark special occasions and what’s its significance? The bubbly, light-colored wine has historically been associated with luxury and the parties of the royal courts and aristocracy of Europe…
Onomatopoeia: Cling!
Cling? Cling?? Wine glasses go clink, thank you very much. 1 star (★)