Three Cocktails for a Grown-up Harry Potter

At midnight, Harry Potter fans got a taste of what they’ve been yearning for since they finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — more. We took our ten-year-old daughter to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. She may have been more excited than we were, but I think the people most excited are those who grew up with the series, and now that they’re all growns up, just like Harry (but, middle-aged, seriously?), they might choose to mark the occasion with a cocktail.

Here, I present three cocktails I think a world-weary, grown-up Harry Potter might order after a long shift at the Ministry:

Butterbeer Cocktail Recipe:

1.5 oz Absolut Vanilla Vodka
1.5 oz DeKuyper Buttershots Schnapps
1 oz half & half
1 egg

Beat ingredients with a hand mixer, then shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Garnish with grated nutmeg.

While a butterbeer still takes Harry back to the fun part of being a kid (parties in the Gryffindor Common Room, chillin’ with R & H), packing on the butterbeer gut is getting all too easy . So, when he longs for a taste of childhood, he orders a Butterbeer Cocktail.

Firewhiskey Manhattan Recipe:

1.75 oz Rye Whiskey (I used Redemption Rye.)
1.25 oz. Sweet Vermouth (I used Dolin)
1-2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir ingredients with ice until chilled, then strain into a rocks glass over a hickory smoke-filled ice globe. Watch Cocktail Chemistry’s how-to video here.

Garnish with cherry (preferably bourbon-soaked).

Few drinks make you feel like an adult more than a Manhattan. It’s the kind of drink that says, “I don’t have to prove myself to anyone.” The addition of hickory smoke adds a little magic.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Recipe:

1.25 oz Rhum Agricole (I used Clément Rhum Blanc Agricole)
1.25 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1.25 oz Carrot juice
0.5 oz Cumin-infused honey simple syrup (recipe below)
0.5 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3 drops Bittercube Orange Bitters
3-4 dashes Tabasco Sauce

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.
No garnish.

One measure for healing is how long it takes comedians to start telling jokes. Naming drinks takes a bit longer — a signal that difficulties are firmly in the past. So it is that Harry could find himself sharing a He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named with Ginny while discussing the possibility that Voldemort likely won’t be the last sociopath aiming to control through fear.

Cumin-infused Honey Simple Syrup Recipe:

1/2 cup Honey
2 tbs Cumin seeds

Bring 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons cumin seeds to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then strain. Cool before using.