My Bloody Valentine: Dead Man's Kiss boozy shot ⋆ Welcome to the Necro Nomnomnomicon

This boozy and somewhat morbid beverage was inspired by fellow blogger, This Mama Cooks, and was created as a part of her lead up to Halloween celebration.

We here at the Nom have decided, however, that this drink, created for a terrifying holiday, was better served on the absolutely most terrifying holiday of all…Valentine’s day. And yes, we’re still doing V-Day posts, because, really, what better way to celebrate a holiday you can’t stand than by insisting it take up an entire month, instead of just enduring the single day?

Clearly, we have some masochistic tendencies.

The original recipe for this intoxicating drink calls for black vodka, and as This Mama Cooks will tell you, that can be a tough product to source locally (Yes, I know, Blavod exists, but apparently not anywhere near where I currently am, and as much as I love you bastards, I’m not buying it online and having it shipped to me for twice as much as I’m gonna spend making my own!). On top of that, we want it to have the sweet taste of marshmallows, not just straight vodka, and as far as we all know, black marshmallow flavored vodka does not exist…

Until now.

But first, a small digression. A few weeks ago I sent out a survey to my loyally subscribed minions asking you guys what sort of things you wanted to see on the Nom. One of the responses I got was to try and use more natural food colorings in my dishes, or at the very least, offer you guys alternatives. Behold, I have heard you, and this recipe is specifically meant for those of you looking for something darker that doesn’t involve a gel or liquid store-bought food coloring (Which doesn’t mean if you don’t want to just skip ahead and slam a few drops of black into your vodka that I’m gonna care, or judge you. You do you.)

Now, back to black vodka. This Mama Cooks offered an interesting way to make your own inky libations: black forbidden rice.

She suggested taking your vodka and allowing it to steep overnight in a mason jar with some of these midnight dark grains. I’ve used forbidden rice grains before, and can absolutely attest that they do throw off a ton of dark, almost purple color when you rinse them…so I thought, why not?

Following her directions, I popped 1 cup of black forbidden rice into a mason jar and then added in about 2 cups of marshmallow vodka (the cheapest shit I could find, because, let’s be honest if this didn’t work, I didn’t want to waste the good stuff.), screwed on the lid and popped the whole thing into the fridge for 24 hours, taking it out to gently shake once every 6 hours or so.

24 hours later I decanted it and was pleasantly surprised to find I had 2 cups of inky black (okay, purple, but close enough!) vodka that didn’t seem to have any lingering flavor from the rice added in. On top of that, I now have a cup of very boozy, very flavorful black rice that I am planning on turning into rice pudding this evening. Double win!

Ok, now we’ve got our black vodka…onto the drink.

The original recipe calls for 1 oz of coffee liqueur and 1/2 oz. of hazelnut liqueur, but as you all know, I’m both cheap and lazy, so I decided to reach out to fellow booze enthusiast and bottomless pit of knowledge when it comes to all things luxury, my friend, and fellow heathen, Dionysus. While he might be better known as the God of Wine, Dion (as I call him) has really diversified since prohibition and has spent a great deal of time playing around with other alcohols and spirits.

He steered me towards Crater Lake Hazelnut Espresso Vodka, making it possible for me to pick up just one bottle instead of two. On top of that, this stuff tastes pretty damn good, and this is NOT an affiliate post, or sponsored in any way. I’m just telling you, this stuff tastes pretty damn good!

Now that we have our alcohol, let’s get boozy!

For the Dead Man’s Kiss you will need: