If you've ever looked into throwing a Harry Potter themed party, you've run into about a dozen butterbeer (pumpkin juice, firewhiskey, etc) recipes. These are the mainstays of the pinterest world when it comes to HP related bevs.
While they're well and good, in my most recent themed event at work, I decided to dive a little deeper into the world of potions. My goal was to recreate famous HP potions and capture their essence, so to speak. To make the drink taste like the effect the potion created.
These recipes are all batched, although some do require a few ingredients you might not have in your pantry. Don't worry though! I bought everything outside of the liquor online, so everything you need is fully accessible.
Amortentia
Who could resist a love potion? This sweet drink is made with Cruzan Mango Rum, Tazo Passion herbal tea, Fresh Lime Juice, and Simple Syrup to balance the citrus. I garnished the drink with a salt rim as a stark reminder that while Amortentia may be sweet, it has a contrasting dark side.
.5oz Simple
.75oz Lime
1.5oz Cruzan Mango
Club Soda/Salt
Shake and double strain into a stemmed glass that has been rimmed with salt. Top with 2oz (ish) of club soda and serve.
Batch It!
750ml Cruzan
375ml Lime Juice
250ml Simple Syrup
350ml Water
Combine in a large vessel and either store in a several bottles or an airtight pitcher. Fridge to chill for 4 hours min, 24 hours max (the citrus will begin to degrade by then)
Veritaserum
I honestly had the most fun with this project. How do you create a cocktail that is colorless and odorless. I ignored the tasteless qualifier in Snape's description because.. well.. I wanted the cocktail to taste like something. For this one you'll have to go online (eg Amazon or Bulk Apothecary) and purchase some Citric Acid.
The citric flavor you get from lemons is pure citric acid (whereas limes are a blend of both citric and malic acid - think of that lightly metallic taste you get by comparison to lemons, which are just citrus bombs). The citric acid adds no flavor beyond balancing the sweetness of this drink without adding the cloudy look of fresh citrus juice. It's as easy to work with as sugar or salt, and you'll make a citric syrup in the same way you might make a simple syrup, but with way less citric acid than sugar.
.25oz Citric Syrup
.5oz Simple Syrup
.25oz Stirrings Peach Liqueur
1.5 Uncle Val's Gin
Shake and double strain into a stemmed glass
Citric Syrup is simple. It's just 1 part citric acid to 10 parts water. The parts can be anything you want (teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, shot glass, or your mom's favorite coffee mug) as long a the ratio stays the same.
Batch It!
My favorite way to serve this cocktail is in small bottles that accompany stemmed glasses. Your guests can pour the concoction themselves much like Snape was tempted to do over and over again.
700ml Uncle Val's Gin (Uncle Val's is sold in 700ml bottles because it's from Europe, so I've adjusted accordingly)
120ml Stirrings Peach Liqueur
120ml Citric Syrup
240ml Simple Syrup
300ml Water
This batch is much more stable than one with fresh citrus juice, so it can be held in the fridge honestly for quite awhile. We were pouring this off for a week after our event and the flavor held.
Felix Felicis
Guys, this one really and truly tastes like liquid sunshine. We poured this one as shots in, but it could definitely be served as a full drink. Aside from the liquor, you'll need to pick up some gold edible glitter which can easily be found online. You only need a tiny bit of glitter for the entire batch, so I didn't make a single cocktail recipe.
400ml Water
375 Lemon Juice
200ml Honey Syrup (equal parts honey/water)
175ml Saffron Liqueur
175ml Simple Syrup
2tsp gold glitter
Combine everything and bottle or chill in an airtight pitcher for minimum 4 hours, max 24 hours. Serve in a stemmed glass or shot glass!
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