Video Game Inspired Cocktails

Since I’m nearing the end of my 99 beers collection sidequest, I was thinking of branching out into cocktails and mixed drinks. One of the coolest resources for this that I’ve come across is The Drunken Moogle, a blog devoted to the “two best things this side of Hyrule: geek culture and booze.”

The Drunken Moogle contains an extensive collection of nerdy cocktail recipes inspired by video games, anime, movies and as well as geeky drinking games. They even have a listing of gaming bars around the world that makes me just want to open up one here in the country. Here are a few cocktail recipes that I’d like to recreate from the games I’ve recently played. I think these would all be great for a video game themed Halloween party.

Bloody Alice (American McGee’s Alice Cocktail)

Though I finished playing Alice: Madness Returns last year, I’ve been replaying it in an attempt to get the 100% completion rate for pig snouts, bottles, memories and radula rooms. Bloody Alice, a modified Bloody Mary concocted by The Drunken Moogle, looks as delicious and twisted as the game is.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz blackberry brandy
• Glass of tomato juice (V8 if you’re looking for something sweeter)
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 dash lemon juice
• Worcestershire sauce to taste

Directions: Shake all ingredients and pour into a highball glass. Garnish with a large knife and serve.

Health Potion (Diablo)

After beating Diablo III as a demon hunter in Normal, Nightmare and Hell mode, I stopped playing the game since repairing items in Inferno mode became so darn expensive. I should probably try it out again to check out the paragon levels. I also got sort of sidetracked by other games (currently playing Final Fantasy XIII-2). But whether or not I’m saving Tristram, I wouldn’t mind gulping down a bottle of this real-life health potion created and photographed by the awesome site Gourmet Gaming.

Ingredients:

• 1 Measure Cranberry Gin
• 0.5 Measure Zubrówka (Buffalo/Bison Grass Vodka)
• 0.5 Measure Amaretto
• Squeeze of Lime Juice
• Top Up Tonic

Directions: Mix first four ingredients in a flask or glass and top off with tonic. Consume as needed.

Boomer Bile (Left 4 Dead Mixed Drink)

This vile-sounding mixture created by OXM UK is inspired by Boomers, the zombies in the first-person shooter game Left4Dead known for their signature move of spraying vomit on you and leaving you dizzy and vulnerable to the hordes of other zombies. Your guess is as good as mine why anyone would make a drink inspired by that. Probably the same reason that I now want to try mixing it myself. The drink looks absolutely toxic.

Ingredients:

• 5 cucumber slices
• 1/2 glass of ice
• 1 shot Gin
• 1oz Vodka
• A few drops of Lemon Juice
• A few drops of Worcester sauce
• 3oz Elderflower Cordial

Directions: Slice up the cucumber and put it in the glass with the ice. Crush it with a pestle. Pour in the gin, vodka, lemon juice, Worcester sauce and elderflower cordial into a shaker and shake well. Pour into a glass and enjoy (or not).

Elderflower Scrolls: Skyyrum (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim cocktail)

I admit, I got overwhelmed by the number of sidequests in The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and stopped playing earlier this year. I should probably just stop talking to everyone I meet and saying yes to all requests to find jewels or deliver messages to distant towns. I vow to finish at least the main quest of Skyrim before the year ends (hopefully) and then celebrate with a tall glass of Skyyrum. After all, it sounds like a drink fit for the Dragonborn. Elderflower Scrolls: Skyrrum was one of several video-game inspired drinks based on the best games of 2011 created by James Dance, owner of the gaming bar Loading in Falmouth, United Kingdom. 

Ingredients:

• Skyy vanilla vodka
• Sparkling elderflower presse
• Spiced rum (Sailor Jerry)
• Orange peel

Directions: “We’ve based this whole drink entirely around a series of highly amusing Skyrim puns – but luckily, it’s also delicious. First, create a sugared rim by dipping your high ball glass into the vanilla vodka, and then into a plate of sugar. Now put ice into the glass and pour in 175ml of the presse down the side (the inside, of course). Add a measure of spiced rum on top of that, and garnish with an orange peel dragon’s tongue.”

Dead Island Cocktails

Below are three recipes for drinks inspired by the game Dead Island, which is set in Banoi, a fictional island just off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The drinks include Zombie Attack, Royal Palms Resort & Dead Island Iced Tea. According to DeadIslandFans.com, this novelty cocktail menu was one of the promo materials for the press when Dead Island was first released last year. They all sound great for your ultimate beach vacation. Just be sure to stay away from all the Thugs at the bar.

Based on my experience of beating the game about 3 weeks ago, alcohol helps a lot when playing Dead Island, as you can only take so much of the frequent fetch-quests, foul language, and bossy attitude of the NPCs, who happen to all be Class-A ingrates. I heard there’s a sequel Dead Island: Riptide, but I don’t think I’ll be playing that anytime soon. Drinking alcohol in the game can be hazardous to your health, as I found out when I mistook an alcohol bottle for a molotov during one battle. It wasn’t pretty.