While it might not have quite the same healing power as Vampyr’s Regeneration Serum, this version presents a thick, dark and delightfully rich fruity beverage that will appeal to anyone with a sweet tooth.
You’ll need:
- 1.5 oz (45ml) aged rum
- 0.50 oz (15ml) Kahlua
- 0.50 oz (15ml) lemon juice
- dash grenadine
- dash Angostura bitters
- Cherry (optional)
Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously to chill. Strain into your vessel. Garnish with a cherry. Serve!
“Sometimes, it behooves the hunter to allow its prey to escape… to grow slow, and fat, and complacent… all the more plump, all the more delectable… but even the most disciplined hunter must sometimes give in to the chase.”
– Unknown
Vampires fill a dark but extremely fascinating corner of folklore. Versions of the myth—bloodsuckers that rise from the grave to feast upon the living—appear all over the world.
The Dracula of Bram Stoker is the most famous in the Western world, but the vampire has lived in one form or another for millennia in the upyr of Slavic Europe, or the ramanga of Madagascar, or even the lilitu of ancient Babylonia.
While the myths may vary greatly in terms of what these monsters look like or who they hunt, one thing remains eerily the same: the need to drink blood.
But even amongst this malaise of undead myths, Vampyr from DONTNOD Entertainment takes the blood fetish thing and takes it to 11. Everything is about blood in the game, from using it as a resource to power your abilities, to using particularly healthy blood to evolve as a vampire. Hell, even your character is a 19th century expert on blood transfusion. Useful skillset to have as a vamp, right?
Even the health recovery item, called a “regeneration serum”, is made from blood—and it’s this useful little syringe that I attempted to recreate.
After a fair number of experiments of my own, I settled on the concoction detailed above.
Prefer your regenerative items to be a little less bloodthirsty? Try the Potion of Healing from Dungeons and Dragons instead.
Ultimately, I knew I wanted to have a cocktail that felt somehow scandalous to drink and yet tempting enough to do so anyway.
The key was richness. Kahlua, a coffee liqueur hailing from Mexico (resident bloodsucker: Chupacabra), would provide that richness but also that deep, dark colour I knew I wanted.
Combined with an aged, oaked rum from the Caribbean (resident bloodsucker: Loogaroo), this pair forms the pulsating heart of the drink and provide a platform for the more astringent and bitter ingredients to build on—namely, the lemon juice, which also helped to balance out the fruity sweetness of the grenadine.
I felt like it needed a bit of bite to really drive home the forbidden fruit nature of this drink, and I couldn’t think of a better contender than a touch of Angostura bitters. Even the small dash added to this drink helps to balance out the sweeter side of the Kahlua.
Rather than the slightly sickly beverage from before, you’re now left with a concoction that is best sipped slow for full enjoyment, with a depth that will keep drawing you back, further and further down the rabbit hole…
If you want to keep seeing video-game-inspired cocktails and get a hold of some exclusive recipes, head on over to Experience Bar’s Patreon page and consider slinging me a credit or two. You help keep this blog going!
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