If I ever fail to return from drinking binge with Stuttaford and Derbyshire —Putin did it!

Meanwhile, a number of readers have responded to my post earlier this week on Venedikt Erofeyev’s Soviet-era cocktails. One pointrd out that the correct name for “‘Tears of a Komsomol Girl’ was in a fact the “bit more pognant” ‘Tear of a Komsomol Girl’, and drew attention to the doubtless splendidly refreshing ”Spirit of Geneva” and “Bitch’s Innards.” Another remembered seeing Tom Courtenay performing a dramatized version of Erofeyev’s “Moscow Stations” in which Tom Courtenay, discussing the ingredients of “Balsam of Canaan” had this to say: “distilled varnish. (pause) I shan’t tell you how to distill varnish, that’s child’s play.”