As their adventure thus far has focused on the burnt remains of the great stone prison and the ghosts which fill it, I decided it was most fitting that a cocktail honoring the first anniversary of Severed Fate should be inspired by Harrowstone.

​The Haunted Harrowstone’s primary liquor is a dry gin, both to balance out the sweetness of the other components I knew I’d be using for more visual effects and because it was a great excuse to incorporate Beefeater gin as a nod to the guards who served (and died) in Harrowstone. To that gin base, I added lemon juice (again to help counter sweetness, and because the tart acid helps to enhance and balance the flavors, while adding to the texture of the drink), and a blend of orgeat and creme de violette. Orgeat is a lovely opaque creamy white in hue. With the purple-hued creme de violette added in, that color takes on a gray tinge. I added the tiniest pinch of cocktail shimmer and, voila, a swirling, sparkly, ectoplasmic liquid results.

This nod to the ghosts within the prison wasn’t quite enough for me, though. I wanted to reference the blood spilled within its walls–as well as the Splatter Man, a particularly powerful ghost of a former prisoner who spells out the names of his victims in blood. I also wanted to reference the great fire that destroyed the prison.

For the blood, I turned to grenadine. Adding a small amount to the glass after the rest of the cocktail has been shaken and poured allows the grenadine to sink down to the bottom of the glass, leaving an effect like an underlying pool of crimson blood.

For the fire, I turned to smoke. I selected oak to smoke for this, as I imagine much of the wood within the prison that would have burned may have been oak. Any wood smoke will do, but the oak smoke gives the cocktail an aroma and flavor akin to oak barrel aged liquors (a bonus that I found to be quite enjoyable).