The Allomancer| A Bright & Bitter Orange Cocktail inspired by the Mistborn Series

The Allomancer cocktail is a Girl & Tonic original recipe made with blood orange Brighter tonic, Campari, orange liqueur, and cara cara orange. The Mistborn series was the inspiration for this cocktail’s name. Fair warning that today’s post may be a touch nerdy.

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I love books. But I’m a terrible reader. It’s not that I can’t read well, I just read slowwwlyy. I don’t skim– I take in every word and use them to create elaborate scenes in my head… then often have to reread for the plot because I’m so busy thinking about what everything would look like. This is why I both love and loathe fantasy books. Fantasy writers are known for their incredible descriptiveness and their abilities to create different worlds and universes where their stories take place. My imagination runs wild with all this information but that also means it takes me for-ev-er to finish a fantasy book.

My husband is an avid reader and can knock out a phonebook-sized tome in a matter of days. He loves fantasy, too, and has burned through so many series that I can’t keep track. (We have two tall bookcases that are 3 books deep. Yep. Each shelf has 3 rows of books on it. Take that in for a second.) So when he tells me I would love a series, I trust him. But as a mom, online ESL teacher, and cocktail blogger, I don’t have the luxury of time. That’s why I thank & bless the inventors of audiobooks–otherwise, I’d have no chance to escape to a fantasy universe.

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson has been every bit as incredible as my husband had said it would be. We’re currently halfway through the first Mistborn trilogy and I love it. One of the things I love the most about it is that the magic system is so unique. Allomancy is far from the typical magic that a wizard or mage would use.

Instead of casting spells or using wands or staffs to zap stuff, allomancers (people who have the ability to use allomancy) “burn” or draw upon the powers found in metals. Different metals produce different effects: burning tin enhances the senses, burning zinc and brass enable the allomancer to manipulate peoples’ emotions, pewter increases physical strength, and steel and iron give one the ability to push away from and pull themselves towards other metals, essentially enabling these allomancers to zip through the air from building to building. Pretty cool.

There are several more metals but I’ll stop there since I assume most of you reading this out there aren’t fantasy nerds like myself. Not every allomancer can burn every metal. In fact, the majority of allomancers can only burn one. These individuals are called Mistings. A rare few can burn ALL of the metals and these are the Mistborn. There’s a whole thing about the mists, too, but again, I’ll stop myself. I honestly could create a whole cocktail series based on this book. And maybe one day I will. But for now, this Allomancer cocktail will stand alone.

The Allomancer cocktail is both bright and bitter, a perfect balance between the two. It also has a lower alcohol content because I used two liqueurs and no liquors in this recipe. Campari, an Italian red liqueur, is known for its bitter bite and orange liqueur is known for its ability to sweeten up cocktails. I love bitter orange and thought I’d merge the two and see how it worked. I’m probably a little biased, but I think it worked well.

I’d also been wanting to create a cocktail recipe that could highlight the divine flavors of Brighter‘s sparkling blood orange apple cider vinegar tonic. I’m a huge fan of Brighter and used their lemon-lime flavor in my Mother’s Garden cocktail/mocktail not too long ago. It’s taken me a while to finally decide, but the blood orange flavor is my favorite. I knew I had to do it justice. If blood oranges were in season now, I would’ve used them to accentuate that flavor but since they’re not, I used cara cara orange juice to add some more freshness to the drink.

If you make the Allomancer cocktail or if you’re a fan of the Mistborn series too, let me know in the comments or in a DM over on my Instagram page. Cocktail lovers and fantasy nerds are both my kinda people.

Ingredients for the Allomancer Cocktail

• 3/4 oz Campari or other bitter Italian liqueur
• 3/4 oz orange liqueur
• 1/2 oz orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 3 + oz blood orange Brighter tonic (sub blood orange kombucha if you can’t find Brighter near you)

How to Make an Allomancer

Add ice, Campari, orange liqueur, and fresh orange juice to a cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a champagne flute. Top off the rest of the glass with the blood orange Brighter tonic. Garnish with an orange peel.