You guys. YOU GUYS. The release of Mockingjay is only 5 and a half days away!! How have we come so far, so fast? And how have we done it without a drinking game to celebrate each rebel victory and mourn each crushing defeat? WHAT KIND OF (PEETA) MALARKY IS THIS?
Thankfully, FYA is here to save you, again, and make sure that you celebrate The Hunger Games trilogy in style. If you’re currently rereading The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in fevered anticipation for Mockingjay‘s release, or if you’re just now picking up The Hunger Games for the first time, mostly to silence your nagging friend or loved one, or if you just need an excuse to drink – and who doesn’t – read on for some boozy* fun!
*Of course, it doesn’t have to be boozy fun. It can be non-boozy fun, if you’re underage, involved in some sort of program containing steps, or if your liver was once eaten by a dingo. In that case, feel free to sub in whatever sort of beverage you would enjoy. Perhaps some milk! Kids from the Seam have to drink warm, unpasteurized goat’s milk. You should mock them while heartily lifting your glass of ice-cold, organic milk fresh from the farmer’s market!
If you are set to have boozy times, it always helps to have something to actually drink. To that end, we at FYA have put our experienced lushness to the test and come up with some drinks for you! I know!! You want to be our best friends! And you CAN be, particularly if you make us one of these fine cocktails:
The Katniss by Jenny
Jenny’s The Katniss is vibrant, surprising, complex and smart, just like our heroine.
Ingredients:
- 1 part Pernod Absinthe
- seedless green grapes
- 1 dash bitters
- 1 1/2 part Gin
- 3/4 part ginger syrup
- 1/2 part fresh lime juice soda water
Preparation:
- Muddle grapes, Absinthe and bitters.
- Add gin, ginger syrup and lime juice.
- Shake and strain into an ice-filled collins glass, top with soda water.
- Garnish with grapes
The Mellarky by Sarah
Sarah deftly created this nuanced bourbon-based drink for everyone’s favorite baker and cake-decorator. It, and Jenny’s The Katniss, are the classiest drinks on the menu, for those of you Capitol-born folks.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 bourbon
- 1/2 Bärenjäger, a honey liquor available at many fine booze-selling establishments
Preparation:
- Combine in a highball glass.
- Drink the shizz out of it.
The Cinna
For The Cinna, we needed something a little unusual, deceptively simple, but that ends up as more than just the sum of its parts.
Ingredients:
- 1 TB balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar (plus more for the rim, if desired)
- 4 strawberries
- 3 oz vodka
(I know, I know. Balsamic vinegar. Just trust me on this. And, because there is balsamic vinegar in this drink, it turns the martini brown. If you have problems with brown food [I know a family that refuses to eat anything brown or orange. We had Thanksgiving dinner with them once. It was . . . interesting.], you can find white balsamic vinegar at most grocery stores.)
Preparation:
- Wash and trim strawberries. Place three of the strawberries in a bowl, combine with balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp sugar. Let macerate for about 10 minutes while you worry about who’s going to die in Mockingjay.
- Okay, time’s up! Using a slotted spoon, remove the strawberries from the balsamic vinegar (reserving the vinegar/sugar mixture) and place them in a small bowl. Muddle the shizz out of them.
- Meanwhile, in a cocktail shaker, combine ice, vodka, and balsamic vinegar/sugar mix. Work your biceps by giving it a shake.
- Make a lengthwise slice in your remaining strawberry, stopping midway up the berry. Place the strawberry on the rim of your martini glass and run it all along the rim. Then dip your martini glass in sugar.
- Add your muddled strawberries to the glass** and then strain the vodka/balsamic vinegar over. Voila!
**You can also add your strawberries to the shaker and mix the martini that way, but I’m a fan of “treasures” at the bottom of my martini glass.
The Effie
Clearly The Effie needs to be tart, bubbly, and very, very pink. This drink is pink and delicious!
Ingredients:
- Pink Champagne
- 1 part Pink Lemonade
- 2 parts Vodka
Preparation:
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Then pour in the lemonade and vodka.
- Shake it like your momma taught ya.
- Strain into a martini glass – aim to fill the glass about 3/4 full.
- Top it off with a pour of pink champagne.
(I would be lying if I said I weren’t going to have tons of these this weekend.)
The Haymitch
Our buddy Haymitch loves his flask like I love cake, but we thought that if we were to truly distill the spirit of Haymitch into one drink, it A) needed to be a shot and B) needed to be Serious Alcoholic Business. So, without further ado . . .
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz Tennessee Whiskey
- 1/2 oz Bourbon
- 1/2 oz Scotch
- 1/2 oz Seagrams 7
Preparation:
- In a cocktail shaker, combine the four liquors and ice and give a hearty shake.
- Strain into a chilled double-shot glass.
- Please try not to die.
The Arena Punch
When you’re a Tribute, any day could be your last. Why not go out in style? Plus, if you can lure other Tributes to the punch, maybe you can get them drunk and take advantage of them.
Not in that way, you criminal pervert. I meant kill them.
Ingredients:
- 2 bottles of Everclear
- 2 bottles of Vodka (100 Proof)
- 12 cans of Fruit Punch
- Fruits of the forests! (strawberries, grapes, watermelon, oranges, whatever you have on hand)
Preparation:
- Get a large container. Throw lots of ice into it.
- Pour all of the ingredients into the container. Mix (I like to do so by hiring hefty men to pick the trash can up and dance around with it).
- Go get your car keys. Hide them somewhere you are unlikely to find them. Enjoy.
Now that you have picked one or two (or seven) of your favorite HG-inspired drinks, it’s time to get down to business! Just print this little list of rules out, use it as a bookmark (not that you would ordinarily need a bookmark for the can’t-put-it-down The Hunger Games series, but drink preparation does usually require both hands), and prepare to get WASTED. And just this once, we’re not talking about dying a fiery death in the Arena. Wasted as in, you may not be able to stand.
The Official FYA The Hunger Games Book Drinking Game
Drink once:
- whenever Haymitch does. Can’t let a buddy drink alone
- when Katniss figures out how to manipulate the audience to get something (like kissing Peeta to get bread)
- anytime any character shows defiance of Panem, be it open (whistling Rue’s tune) or covert (mockingjays on watchbands)
- anytime you feel like Katniss could really use a Sassy Best Friend to slap some sense into her (“Look at your life! Look at your choices! Have you even slept with this guy?”)
- anytime there’s a reference to President Snow smelling of blood
Take a shot:
- anytime an Avox appears
- anytime a Tribute dies (we apologize in advance for that one chapter where like 14 Tributes die in one day)
- anytime one of Suzanne Collins’ crazy-ass “animals” appears (jabberjays, other muttations, etc)
That’s it! (Trust me, that’s enough!) Remember kids, don’t read and drink and drive, and do try to avoid alcohol poisoning, if you’d be so kind.
Also, you may be wondering why there’s a glaring omission to our drinks menu. That’s right, The Gale! Well, fine FYAers, that’s where we want your help. Come up with a drink recipe for The Gale and let us know in the comments! We may even drink it while at the FYA slumber party (in a little over a week!), so make it good! (Psst from the future: Find The Gale here!)
(We will also accept submissions for The Greasy Sae, The Madge, The President Snow, The Prim, The Rue, The Finnick, and The Johanna.)
May the odds be ever in your favor.
