Haunted Harrowstone

A Themed Drink for Severed Fate: A Dimension Door Podcast

Last Halloween saw the release of the first episode of Severed Fate: A Dimension Door Podcast​. This sister podcast to The Dimension Door is similarly a Pathfinder 1st edition actual-play production. Where The Dimension Door Podcast is playing Paizo's Reign of Winter adventure path, Severed Fate is playing Carrion Crown. This adventure is horror-themed and has thus far featured the very-much-haunted remains of a high-security prison named Harrowstone. Thus, to commemorate the first anniversary of the launch of Severed Fate, I created the Haunted Harrowstone cocktail.

Skip to the recipe or keep reading for details regarding my inspiration for this cocktail.

Severed Fate
&
​The Haunting of Harrowstone​

Amanda Kreitler (who plays Marge Gunderson on The Dimension Door) is the Game Mistress for this adventure, running the game for Zac Kreitler (a player on The Dimension Door and the wonderful editor and composer for both podcasts), and two new players: Madison Rogers and Nick Thunder.

The first book of the Carron Crown adventure, The Haunting of Harrowstone, has the players' characters dealing with Harrowstone Prison. More specifically, they are investigating and trying to combat the threat of the incredibly haunted ruins of this former high-security prison, which was destroyed by a horrific fire many years ago.

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).

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As part of celebrating the first anniversary of Severed Fate, we recorded a two-part special featuring the entire Dimension Door cast. James Schwarz, David Miller, and I showed up to guest and play with the Severed Fate crew. The first episode of that special is available now. The second episode will be released tomorrow.

We had a great time recording together and each enjoyed a Haunted Harrowstone as part of the experience. I hope you give this spooky cocktail a try. If you do, please let me know what you think!

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How to make your own Haunted Harrowstone

Ingredients & Tools

• cocktail shaker & strainer
• chilled coupe or nick & nora glass
• smoke infuser & oak wood chips
  • you can get by without an infuser by pre-smoking the glass with the wood chips on a fire-proof surface, as per the instructions for smoking the glass in my Blood and Fire, Smoke and Ice cocktail. You will need to smoke the empty glass prior to pouring the cocktail if you go this route.
• 2 oz Beefeater gin (or a similar London dry gin)
• 0.75 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 oz Lapsang Souchong tea (steeped in advance and chilled; cold-steep the tea for extra flavor)
• 0.5 oz orgeat (see my recipe to make your own here)
• 0.5 oz creme de violette
• 0.25 oz grenadine (see my recipe to make your own here)
• clear cocktail shimmer (edible glitter dust such as this product)

Instructions

To your cocktail shaker, add:

• ​2 oz Beefeater gin
• 0.75 oz lemon juice
• 1 oz Lapsang Souchong
• 0.5 oz orgeat
• 0.5 oz creme de violette
• a very small pinch of cocktail shimmer

Shake with ice until well-chilled. Strain into your chilled glass.

Add a scant 0.25 oz grenadine (you can use less if you prefer your cocktail to be less sweet). It will sink to the bottom of the glass, leaving a pool of crimson at the bottom with a larger layer of swirling, sparkling gray-tinged white above.

Place the glass beneath a glass dome and, using your infuser and oak chips, fill with oak smoke. Allow the smoke to infuse the cocktail for around 30 seconds before lifting the dome and serving.

The full cast of Dimension Door sitting down to enjoy their Haunted Harrowstone cocktails while recording the Severed Fate anniversary special. From left to right, we have: Zac Kreitler, Madison Rogers, Nick Thunder, Amanda Kreitler, David Miller, James Schwarz, Elizabeth Wilcox