Boos and Booze is a series dedicated to recommending a great book for Halloween with a drink pairing. Our first novel is Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House which bears very little resemblance to the 2018 Netflix series.
The Haunting of Hill House is a slim volume, so it’s a fairly quick read, but it packs a lot of eerie atmosphere in those pages. Netflix’s series borrowed the setting, a few events and a lot of character names from the book, but it really is quite a different story (one that is followed closely in 1963’s The Haunting).
Dr. Montague is intrigued by the supernatural, and invites people who have experienced paranormal events to join him at Hill House. Hill House has a history of death and despair, and Montague wants to find out if his guests might stir up the spirits in the house.
Montague’s guests are Eleanor and Thodora, and also joining them is Luke, the heir to Hill House. As the group begins to settle in, spooky things start to happen. Strange noises and footsteps are heard at night, writing appears on the walls, and at one point, Theo and Nell are terrified when something tries to open their bedroom door.
The Haunting of Hill House is a beautifully written, eerie haunted house story, which leaves you uncertain as to whether it’s the house itself or one of its occupants that is actually haunted. It is absolutely perfect Halloween reading material.
When The Haunting of Hill House starts to get under your skin, Orlando bartender Armando Morales has created a spooky adult beverage to steady your nerves. Armando is a 15-year veteran in the hospitality industry, working as everything from dishwasher to bar manager but his goal has always been to ensure that guests enjoy their experience with him. He says that food and drink have a story, can tell a story and can help create new stories.
Armando created a Boos and Booze recipe for this color-changing Spectral Apparition cocktail, inspired by Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Check out the recipe, if you dare!
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Empress 1908 Indigo Gin*
- 1 oz honey simple syrup (recipe below)
- 1 egg white **
- 1/2 oz lemon juice (or juice from 2 lemon wedges)
Combine gin, honey simple syrup, and egg white in a shaker; shake dry (no ice) for 20-30 seconds. Shake as hard as you can. You can add a blender ball to help create the frothy foam you are trying to achieve with the egg white.
Add ice, remove blender ball and shake again for 3-5 seconds, until the shaker starts to get cold. Do not over shake, as the foam will break and fall flat.
Strain into glass of choice. Immediately before drinking, add lemon juice to your drink for the “ghostly apparition” to appear.
Honey Simple Syrup:
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
Heat all ingredients together and bring to a simmer, then let cook until desired thickness. Note: will appear thin and runny in the pan, but when cool, it will be thick and syrup consistency.
You may also add additional flavors to your syrup. When syrup is cooling, add the flavor you desire and it will steep into the final product. For a more intense flavor, you can add while simmering. Armando used a ginger honey simple syrup when he created this cocktail and according to him, it was great with the gin and lemon.
* If you do not have access to Empress 1908 Indigo Gin, you may steep any clear spirit with Butterfly Pea Flower for 24 hours prior to making this cocktail. The more flowers the better when home steeping. This element is important for the color changing effect.
** For a vegetarian/vegan option (or if you don’t like the idea of a raw egg white) You may use Aquafaba (the water from a can of chickpeas) to create the foamy head of the cocktail. Armando found that aquafaba actually creates a better foam and is more forgiving if you make a mistake and have to re-shake the cocktail.
Our thanks to Armando for this spooky concoction! I personally made this Boos and Booze cocktail at home, and it was quite tasty; it was a great mix of sweet and tart, and it was gorgeous to look at.
Join us for the next installment of Boos and Booze!
Do you enjoy reading horror books, and have you read The Haunting of Hill House? Tell us which are your favorite scary books in the comments section.