The Jabberwock cocktail was invented by Harry Craddock in 1930 at London's Savoy Hotel and named after Lewis Carroll's 1871 nonsense poem, Jabberwocky. The poem appears in Through the Looking-Glass, as part of Alice's surreal dream. Carroll wrote the poem while staying at Whitburn in England. Jabberwocky was probably inspired by that area's dragon legend, The Lambton Worm (a terrible name for a cocktail).In the legend a young knight called John Lambton has to slay the worm and then, to avoid a curse on his family, he must kill the next living thing he sees. The Lambtons contrive to send his favourite hound in at this point. Could this be the origin of the expression "hair of the dog"?The plan fails and Lambton's over-eager father is the first on the scene. None the less, the poor hound gets the chop and, animal lovers will be pleased to know, the curse takes effect.To create the pseudo-archaic impression of an Anglo-Saxon poem, Carroll's version uses portmanteau, a literary cocktail in which the sounds and meanings of two words are mixed.It begins: "'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe." Despite the gibberish, the poem creates the most vivid imagery and ends, like the cocktail, in a "frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"Read the poem then pop along to The Landmark cocktail bar in Bryanston and sample The Jabberwock for yourself. THE JABBERWOCK by Harry Craddock30ml Bombay Sapphire gin30ml Caperitif*30ml Pedro Ximinez dry sherry2 dashes of orange bittersStir with plenty of ice in a mixing glass and strain into a well-chilled chanticleer.Garnish with an Amarena cherry, a sprig of mint and a twist of naartjie zest."This will have you 'gyre and gimble in the wabe' alright, alright!" wrote Craddock in his famous Savoy Cocktail Book, still the mixologist's bible.To get Caperitif e-mail aabadenhorstwine@gmail.comThe Landmark, corner William Nicol and Ballyclare, Bryanston, 011-463-5081..