Greetings, foul friends.
September is upon us once again, which means that Autumn is officially here, and it’s less than 2 full moon cycles until Halloween. As you can imagine, with the vast majority of the Black Lodge staff either being undead, a creature of the night, not of this planet, or from a different ethereal plane, we look forward to this time of year immensely.
It seems that you humans also get into the ‘spirit’ of the season, too, as your supermarkets have had Halloween decorations on the shelves since late August, right next to the out-of-date Easter eggs, back-to-school paraphernalia, and the meat counter. We approve!
Speaking of rotting flesh, we’ve received some wonderful feedback from those of you who have come out to meet us at the various food and drink markets we regularly attend. We just wanted to thank you for that. If you’ve managed to miss the Black Lodge hearse and accompanying black cloud rolling into your town so far, you’ll have six (six six) more chances this month. That’s right, friends, we’ll soon be hitting the darkened paths of the UK once more to offer you the opportunity to sample our award-winning gins. We may even have one or two goodie bags of Black Widow spiders, venomous snakes, and scorpions left for the kiddywinkles.
You can’t say that we don’t look after you, fleshbags!
FESTIVALS
Brother G and Brother T are coming to a food and drink festival near you very soon for more merriment, mirth, and other fun words beginning with M that we can’t think of right now.
We’ll have all five flavours of handcrafted gin available for you to try, along with our ever-popular 5 x 5cl gift pack, in case you can’t decide which one is your favourite. All five go down a treat with an evening meal, a bag of dry roasted peanuts, or the entrails of your enemies, so be sure to stop by and stock up your drinks cabinets for the upcoming autumnal festivities.
Here’s where we’ll be this month:
6th and 7th
Margam Park, Great British Food Festival, Wales
20th
Denby Pottery Village Makers Market, Derby
20th & 21st
Festival of Food and Drink, Thoresby Park, Nottinghamshire
27th
Ginger and Spice Festival, Market Drayton, Shropshire
If you can’t make it to one of these events in person, you can always order directly from The Spirit Shop or with the rest of your online shopping at The Black Lodge Amazon Store.
COCKTAIL(S) OF THE MONTH
We were doing a seance to communicate with Astaroth, the Grand Duke of Hell, the other day (he does enjoy knowing how we’re getting on “above ground”, as he calls it) when Cousin Silas came bursting in and took some of the salt from our pentagram to use around the rim of his cocktail glass. Unfortunately, that broke the seal that was keeping Astaroth in the Netherworld, so he escaped. He’s been having a grand old time causing chaos in the local village ever since, and was last reported to be crying with laughter as he turned the villagers into ducks, then made them run the 100-metre hurdles.
But, we digress.
The incident made us realise that it’s been a while since we did a Cocktail of the Month recipe for you, so we thought we’d put that right by providing you with a few of our favourite autumnal elixirs.
Enjoy, future corpses!
☠️ “The Cherry-Choco Ember”
Ingredients (per serving)
🕷️ 50 ml Dark Cherry, Chilli Chocolate Gin
🕷️ 25 ml fresh-squeezed orange juice
🕷️ 15 ml cinnamon-spiced syrup (or cinnamon syrup)
🕷️ 10 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
Optional: a dash of aromatic bitters (chocolate or orange if available)
Garnish: flamed orange twist and a cinnamon stick
Method
- Add the gin, orange juice, cinnamon syrup, lemon juice, and bitters (if using) into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
- Shake well until thoroughly chilled.
- Strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass over a large ice cube.
- Garnish with a flamed (expressed) orange twist for aromatic drama, plus a cinnamon stick for stirring.
Other Variations
☠️ “Autumn Neat”
Serve 50 ml of the Dark Cherry, Chilli Chocolate Gin neat or gently warmed with an orange peel—simple and indulgent.
☠️ “Cherry Chocolate Espresso Old-Fashioned”
Muddle 5 ml sugar cube with bitters, add 50 ml gin, and a splash of cooled espresso for a fall-forward after-dinner sip.
☠️ “Smoky Autumn Fizz”
Use the Smoky Berries & Liquorice Gin with apple cider, lemon juice, and soda for a smoky, sparkling autumn twist.
UNTIL NEXT TIME…
Well, fleshlings, that brings us to the end of another Black Lodge Journal entry, and not a moment too soon. A raven has just arrived from Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico, to tell us that the aliens in crate number 237 would like their lawnmower back. We’ve only had it for 120 years, so we don’t know what their urgency is. Still, you know how the old saying goes:
Extra Terrestrials; can’t live with them; can’t borrow their gardening equipment.
Until next time, stay safe, drink responsibly, and if you’re going to a vampire’s house for a steak dinner, always ask for it to be cooked well done.
Stay spooky,
Brother G and Brother T
