Love Potion #9

Valentine's Day is coming up, and I've got the perfect cocktail for you, the Love Potion #9. It combines cran-raspberry juice, vodka, lemon-lime soda, and simple syrup for a deliciously sweet yet slightly tart drink. The cran-raspberry juice adds lots of flavor and gives the drink its beautiful red color. Adding a bit of dry ice to each glass helps it look like a real life love potion ready to claim its first victim.

This cocktail is super easy to make and comes together in no time. If you're going to use dry ice for the cool smoke effect, make sure you read all of the important instructions below beforehand as it can be dangerous.

One more thing! I was inspired by the original Love Potion #9 song when making this that I put together a fun Valentine's Day themed playlist of oldies for you!

A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE GET STARTED.

• This recipe makes one cocktail, but can easily be doubled or tripled to make more than one. I’ve also listed it out in parts below if you’d rather make a whole pitchers worth for a larger crowd.
• If you don’t like or can’t find cran-raspberry juice, you can use regular cranberry juice.
• The simple syrup helps to sweeten the drink, but you can use extra soda if you don't have any simple syrup on hand.

Ratio for Larger Batch:

4 parts cran-raspberry juice + 1.5-2 parts vodka + 1 part lemon-lime soda + 1 part simple syrup

Dry Ice

• IMPORTANT: DO NOT touch dry ice! It is so cold that it will burn you.
• Dry ice can be found at most grocery stores. I recommend calling ahead to make sure they have it. If you can't find it at your local Ralphs/Kroger's, Von's/Pavilions, or Walmart, I've had luck finding it at Smart and Final. You'll most likely need to go to the cashier for them to pull it from the backroom. One pound is more than enough.
• Dry ice doesn’t keep long, so I recommend buying it no more than an hour or two before you need it. I kept my bag of dry ice wrapped in some paper bags and placed in a cooler before I was ready to use it.

Handling Dry Ice

• Once you’re ready to add dry ice to your cocktails, you’ll need to break up the ice. I recommend placing the bag of dry ice on the counter, wearing something to protect your eyes and some oven mitts or gloves, and using a mallet or hammer to break up the ice while it is still contained in the bag.
• You’ll only need several small pieces, one for each cocktail. You can place these pieces in a bowl with tongs. The pieces of dry ice are so cold that they will be noisy and move around as they are added to the bowl so be careful not to let any of it touch you..
• Once the dry ice is broken up, use kitchen tongs to carefully transfer it to the glass. Once it hits the liquid it will start bubbling and smoking.
• DO NOT drink the dry ice. Let it sit in your glass for about 5 minutes until it dissolves. Then your cocktail is safe to drink. Make sure you tell this to anyone you serve the cocktail to.

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