This post, a Jon Snow Game of Thrones cocktail, is the first installment of a Game of Thrones cocktail series based on the characters and events of Game of Thrones. We are now two weeks away from the first episode of the last season, so this is fair warning that Lemon Baby will be discussing little else.
Speaking of “little”: “He’s too little for me…As heroes go, he is quite little,”
Daenerys to Tyrion, regarding Jon Snow.
Apparently not so, as the last episode revealed. So I present our first drink, a Jon Snow Game of Thrones cocktail, which pulls double duty as a celebration of the Unburnt (and her other nine epithets) and the King in the North. Yeah–they’re related, but they don’t know it. Plus, Jaime and Cersei pretty much took all the shock value out of incest by now. Still gross, tho.
Back to the cocktail. It’s a riff on an Old Fashioned because for the King in the North, it must be bourbon. Bourbon and Scotch are the only things besides hot chocolate or coffee that I’d want to drink in a perpetually snowy place. Bourbon is strong (like Jon), honest and dependable (also like Jon), and yet complex (aka Jon). The nod to Daenerys is the garnish: an orange peel in the shape of a dragon’s tail, and the bitters, which are aged in charred barrels (get it–charred?).
I added a little elderflower syrup to give this drink a little sweetness. Despite her fierceness, Daenerys (at least up ’til now) is inherently kind. I wanted the beverage to reflect this– to be strong, nuanced, and a little sweet but not cloyingly so.
The Little Hero: A John Snow Game of Thrones Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ounces bourbon I used homemade Earl-Grey infused bourbon
- 2 orange slices
- 1/2 ounce elderflower syrup or any syrup
- 1 dash barrel-aged bitters
- cocktail cherries
- long strip of orange peel
Instructions
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Cut the orange peel with scissors to resemble a dragon’s tail.
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Muddle orange slices in the bottom of a shaker.
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Add bourbon, syrup, and bitters to shaker and stir.
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Fill with ice and shake.
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Strain into a shallow glass.
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Garnish with orange peel and cherry.
If you’re as GoT obsessed as I am, check out the rest of the Game of Thrones cocktail series: The Lioness (Cersei Lannister), The White Walker with Johnnie Walker, and the Mother of Dragons (Danaerys).
