Paopu Bitters

Paopu Bitters "My friends are the best friends
Loyal, willing and able.
Now let’s get to drinking!
All glasses off the table!"

Nerdy drinks. By nerds, for nerds.

So we dunno about y’all, but we’re super excited for season 3 of MLP next month.  So we’ve been watching all the episodes for like the umpteenth time, and decided to make this cocktail after watching the season 2 finale.  Tonight, we bring probably our most ambitious cocktail to date… just as ambitious as its inspiration - Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings.  Here we have a layered, black light reactive cocktail.  The bottom green layer is more of a simple syrup.  Midori, some energy drink and thickened up a bit with sugar.  The top layer is Pomegranate Blueberry juice with Gin and muddled Blackberries.  Photographing the black-light reaction also proved to be challenging, but we feel this shot does it the best justice.  So anyway… on with the recipe!

Green/Bottom Layer 

  • 3 oz Midori
  • 3 oz Green Tea Rehab monster energy drink thing
  • .5-1 oz Tonic Water (this will help it be brighter in the black light, but tonic glows Blue so keep that in mind)
  • 7 oz Sugar (essentially just as much as the wet ingredients)
  1. This is like simple syrup basically.  You’re gonna put it all in a pot and thicken it up.  What you’re aiming for here is to make it heavier than the Black layer so the black layer can rest on top of it.  Make it TOO thick, however, and you’ll have to get a spoon to stir the damn drink together (this happened to us on the first attempt.)  Also keep in mind it gets thicker as it cools, so I would say err on the side of thinner in the pot.  
  2. Set this aside to cool.

Black Layer  

  • 1 oz Gin
  • 3 oz Juice
  • 2-3 Blackberries
  1. Mix ingredients together
  2. Muddle in the Blackberries (This is fancy talk for ‘smash that shit to bits with whatever you have’.  Like… a mortar and pestle.)
  3. Strain the smashed blackberry bits out.
  4. set aside.

The whole shabangabanga

  1. Take your cocktail glass and dip the rim in Tonic Water.  It’s essential that you use Tonic Water here because it has Quinine which is the thing that makes it black light reactive.
  2. Dip your moistened glass rim into sugar and get it all nice and coated.
  3. Pour your simple syrup-ish green mix into the cocktail glass first.
  4. Layer the black mix onto the green.  The method I found works the best is to pour VERY SLOWLY over the Back of a Spoon so the mix gently falls on top of the green without having enough force to mix itself into the syrup. (One thing to note - this simple syrup is incredibly sweet, so if you want to lessen the sweetness, use less of the syrup in your cocktail.)
  5. Sit back, enjoy and remember… This day is going to be perfect.

Posted October 9, 2012 at 11:06 pm 6 notes

Starfruit Paopu fruit is finally in season!  We’ve been wanting to make this for like, ever… but we’ve had to wait for Starfruit Paopu fruit to be in season.  Since we finally managed to get our mitts on some, we bring to you Destiny Islands Sangria.  It’s a sweet, tropical sangria that is refreshing and crisp.

Destiny Islands Sangria

  • 2 Bananas
  • 13 oz Pineapple (bout… half a pineapple)
  • 1/2 Lime
  • 2 Starfruit Paopu Fruit
  • 1 Bottle of your favorite Riesling. (we used Barefoot since it’s cheap and delish.)

Making Sangria is just like infusing spirits, which is something we’re quite fond of doing around here.  You’re going to give the fruit a rough chop, put it in a container and pour in the bottle of wine.  Put it in your fridge and let it steep until the flavor is where you want it.  To us, it tasted good after about a day, but it was delicious after somewhere around 3 days.  After it’s ready, pour it into a glass and enjoy.  Just remember, if you share this sangria with someone, your destinies will become intertwined, and you will remain part of each other’s lives no matter what.

Posted August 27, 2012 at 9:39 am 20 notes

Blizzaga.  We don’t know bout where you live, but here in Florida, it’s hot as shit.  That makes it perfect weather to kick back and have a cool refreshing Blizzaga.  It’s like an adult snowcone!  Well… not like… it basically is an adult snowcone.  This one was a particular pain the booty for us.  We really couldn’t come up with a way to make a blue simple syrup.  We tried our hardest to stay away from blue food coloring… soooo we used candy.  Shhh we know it has blue food coloring IN it…. details details. Raspberry Laffy-Taffy Simple Syrup ~10 Blue Raspberry Laffy Taffies (we got them at a local party store) 1 cup water 1 tbsp sugar Basically dissolve the laffy taffy and sugar into the water, and boom bam.  You got blue simple syrup.  You’ll wanna cool this off in the fridge before you make the cocktail so it doesn’t instantly melt your ice. Blizzaga Blue Raspberry Simple Syrup mix (listed above) 5 oz Creme De Menthe 2 oz Gin Half a blue rock candy Smash up some rock candy for the garnish. Wet the rim of the glass and press into the rock candy smashies to adhere it. Snow some ice up in your blender/food processor/hammer/whatever handy tool you choose. Put the ice into a Martini glass.  The type of glass here is important because you don’t want to melt the ice by holding the drink with your hand, so the stem on a martini glass will keep your body heat from melting it prematurely. Pour Blizzaga over the ice. Kick back, preferably by a large body of water in the sun and enjoy.

Blizzaga.  We don’t know bout where you live, but here in Florida, it’s hot as shit.  That makes it perfect weather to kick back and have a cool refreshing Blizzaga.  It’s like an adult snowcone!  Well… not like… it basically is an adult snowcone.  This one was a particular pain the booty for us.  We really couldn’t come up with a way to make a blue simple syrup.  We tried our hardest to stay away from blue food coloring… soooo we used candy.  Shhh we know it has blue food coloring IN it…. details details.

Raspberry Laffy-Taffy Simple Syrup

  • ~10 Blue Raspberry Laffy Taffies (we got them at a local party store)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tbsp sugar

Basically dissolve the laffy taffy and sugar into the water, and boom bam.  You got blue simple syrup.  You’ll wanna cool this off in the fridge before you make the cocktail so it doesn’t instantly melt your ice.

Blizzaga

  • Blue Raspberry Simple Syrup mix (listed above)
  • 5 oz Creme De Menthe
  • 2 oz Gin
  • Half a blue rock candy
  1. Smash up some rock candy for the garnish.
  2. Wet the rim of the glass and press into the rock candy smashies to adhere it.
  3. Snow some ice up in your blender/food processor/hammer/whatever handy tool you choose.
  4. Put the ice into a Martini glass.  The type of glass here is important because you don’t want to melt the ice by holding the drink with your hand, so the stem on a martini glass will keep your body heat from melting it prematurely.
  5. Pour Blizzaga over the ice.
  6. Kick back, preferably by a large body of water in the sun and enjoy.

Posted July 12, 2012 at 12:56 am 57 notes

The Hungarian Horntail.  A right nasty piece of work.  Most consider them to be the most dangerous breed of dragon, and this cocktail does them justice.  One of our very own witches wouldn’t even go near the beast to give it a try.   The fire whiskey here in is made by infusing the Whiskey with Jalapeno.  Alternatively, you could use a pepper whiskey already premade, such as Southern Comfort Fiery Pepper, which contains Tobasco and other chilies. The way we made our whiskey was much like our other spirit infusions.  Wash your jalapenos off, split them down the middle long ways, and cover with whiskey and let steep.  Now when we did this, I let them sit for a day.  When I checked it the next day, it was spicy as hell.  Like… REALLY spicy.  This is coming from a guy who can go to a wing joint and eat the spiciest wings they have on the menu.  So if you have a low spicy tolerance, I would suggest removing the seeds from the jalapeno (The seeds have tons of capsaicin, which is what makes peppers hot) and check on it every few hours to get it right. What I’m getting at is this will be a very quick infusion.  However, if you feel like you’ve got what it takes to be the Tri-Wizard Champion, infuse it for a day seeds in.  While I was drinking this, I felt like I was really doing battle with the horntail. Fire Whiskey Pour Whiskey over two jalapenos in a mason jar, let steep till ready. The Hungarian Horntail 6 oz Ginger Ale 3 oz Fire Whiskey Lemon Juice from half a lemon Lime juice from half a lime Stir ingredients together in a lowball glass. Face down the dragon.

The Hungarian Horntail.  A right nasty piece of work.  Most consider them to be the most dangerous breed of dragon, and this cocktail does them justice.  One of our very own witches wouldn’t even go near the beast to give it a try.  

The fire whiskey here in is made by infusing the Whiskey with Jalapeno.  Alternatively, you could use a pepper whiskey already premade, such as Southern Comfort Fiery Pepper, which contains Tobasco and other chilies. The way we made our whiskey was much like our other spirit infusions.  Wash your jalapenos off, split them down the middle long ways, and cover with whiskey and let steep.  Now when we did this, I let them sit for a day.  When I checked it the next day, it was spicy as hell.  Like… REALLY spicy.  This is coming from a guy who can go to a wing joint and eat the spiciest wings they have on the menu.  So if you have a low spicy tolerance, I would suggest removing the seeds from the jalapeno (The seeds have tons of capsaicin, which is what makes peppers hot) and check on it every few hours to get it right. What I’m getting at is this will be a very quick infusion.  However, if you feel like you’ve got what it takes to be the Tri-Wizard Champion, infuse it for a day seeds in.  While I was drinking this, I felt like I was really doing battle with the horntail.

Fire Whiskey

  • Pour Whiskey over two jalapenos in a mason jar, let steep till ready.

The Hungarian Horntail

  • 6 oz Ginger Ale
  • 3 oz Fire Whiskey
  • Lemon Juice from half a lemon
  • Lime juice from half a lime
  1. Stir ingredients together in a lowball glass.
  2. Face down the dragon.

Posted July 4, 2012 at 10:27 pm 6 notes

Felix Felicis, also known as Liquid Luck.  A smooth golden shot that will make you feel like you can succeed at anything.  Drink sparingly though!  Side effects may include giddiness, overconfidence, recklessness and delusions of magical capability if taken in excess. Felix Felicis  .5 oz Disaronno 1.5 oz Butterscotch Liqueur Combine in potion bottle of your choice.  Stir if desired… just not with your wand.  That’s not proper wand ettiquette.

Felix Felicis, also known as Liquid Luck.  A smooth golden shot that will make you feel like you can succeed at anything.  Drink sparingly though!  Side effects may include giddiness, overconfidence, recklessness and delusions of magical capability if taken in excess.

Felix Felicis 

  • .5 oz Disaronno
  • 1.5 oz Butterscotch Liqueur
  • Combine in potion bottle of your choice.  Stir if desired… just not with your wand.  That’s not proper wand ettiquette.

Posted June 27, 2012 at 10:50 pm 16 notes

While you’re trying to grind out all that gear for Inferno mode, you might find that you need yourself a drink.  So we here at Paopu Bitters present to you Arcane Power, a Diablo-inspired cocktail.  This refreshing drink combines flavors of blueberry and mint with the crisp taste of Sprite.  It’s so tasty and goes down so smooth that you’ll find yourself refilling your glass as quickly as your Arcane Power recharges.  For this drink we made a fruit syrup, which was then combined with the booze, then mixed with sprite.  So the recipe below will be broken up into those parts. Mint Blueberry Syrup ~10 Blueberries 2-3 Mint Leaves 1 cup Sugar .5 cup Water Mix together the sugar and water in a pot, bring it to a boil and start to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar starts to dissolve, bring it down to a simmer and add in the blueberries and mint. Mash the blueberries and mint leaves up and simmer the lot. Reduce it to a syrup consistency and pull it off the heat. Strain the blueberry and mint leaf pulp.  The Booze 2 oz Gin 2 oz Blue Curacao 1 oz Creme de Menthe Stir all the booze together with the Mint Blueberry Syrup.  This actually tastes pretty awesome on it’s own I might add. Arcane Power Take your new mix of booze and Mint Blueberry Syrup and stir with equal parts Sprite. Drink. Cast Venom Hydra. Kite with Arcane Orbs.

While you’re trying to grind out all that gear for Inferno mode, you might find that you need yourself a drink.  So we here at Paopu Bitters present to you Arcane Power, a Diablo-inspired cocktail.  This refreshing drink combines flavors of blueberry and mint with the crisp taste of Sprite.  It’s so tasty and goes down so smooth that you’ll find yourself refilling your glass as quickly as your Arcane Power recharges.  For this drink we made a fruit syrup, which was then combined with the booze, then mixed with sprite.  So the recipe below will be broken up into those parts.

Mint Blueberry Syrup

  • ~10 Blueberries
  • 2-3 Mint Leaves
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • .5 cup Water
  1. Mix together the sugar and water in a pot, bring it to a boil and start to dissolve the sugar.
  2. Once the sugar starts to dissolve, bring it down to a simmer and add in the blueberries and mint.
  3. Mash the blueberries and mint leaves up and simmer the lot.
  4. Reduce it to a syrup consistency and pull it off the heat.
  5. Strain the blueberry and mint leaf pulp. 

The Booze

  • 2 oz Gin
  • 2 oz Blue Curacao
  • 1 oz Creme de Menthe
  1. Stir all the booze together with the Mint Blueberry Syrup. 
  2. This actually tastes pretty awesome on it’s own I might add.

Arcane Power

  1. Take your new mix of booze and Mint Blueberry Syrup and stir with equal parts Sprite.
  2. Drink.
  3. Cast Venom Hydra.
  4. Kite with Arcane Orbs.

Posted June 12, 2012 at 11:29 pm 5 notes

Welcome to the League of Legends cocktail spotlight, featuring Remove Scurvy - the Gangplank cocktail. The assembly of the drink itself is rather straightforward.  I like to build equal parts of the rum infusion and orange juice in a lowball glass.  I then transition into ice and finish the build out with a curl of orange zest.  I like to consume the drink either with a very short straw, or straight from the glass so that you can pick up on the scent of the zest when you take a drink.  The majority of the setup for this cocktail is in the infusion of the rum, so that’ll be the recipe below.  I built this up to steep in a mason jar, so you may need to adjust the quantities for a higher volume.


Orange Lime Coconut Rum Infusion

  • Zest of 1 orange
  • Zest of half a lime
  • 1 lime segment
  • 4-5 orange segments
  • Coconut rum to fill the jar


  1. Put ingredients into mason jar, using rum last to fill it.
  2. Let steep.  The duration of this is going to be up to your personal taste.  I took a sip of it each day until the flavor got to where I liked it.  It took me 5 days, your mileage may vary.

Should anything happen during the process, just eat an orange and it’ll be k.

Posted May 27, 2012 at 10:43 pm 17 notes

A Beautiful Heart and a Helping Hand.  Continuing from our post from last week, we got another Pony drink for ya.  This time our Rarity inspired cocktail.  While we were experimenting with ideas for this cocktail, we stumbled upon the perfect mix for a shot fitting Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle.  We have 2 recipes for A Beautiful Heart here, depending on how sweet you like your cocktails.  Version one is our first, but about half way through drinking it the Mrs found it to be too sweet for her palette to drink anymore.  So we went back to the drawing board and with a minor tweak came up with version 2.  So without further ado, we give you… A Beautiful Heart - Version 1 1 oz Chambord (Black Raspberry Liqueur)3 oz Martini Moscato D’Asti sparkling wine.5 oz AmarettoCombine in a flute, and enjoy. A Beautiful Heart - Version 2  1 oz Chambord2 oz Martini Moscato D’Asti sparkling wine2 oz Raspberry flavored Seltzer.5 oz AmarettoCombine in a flute and enjoy. A Helping Hand   1 oz Half and Half.25 oz Amaretto1 oz ChambordCombine in a shot glass and enjoy.You might not actually want Sweetie Belle to help you out.  I mean… she means well.. but ya know… it doesn’t really work out for her… or for you.

A Beautiful Heart and a Helping Hand.  Continuing from our post from last week, we got another Pony drink for ya.  This time our Rarity inspired cocktail.  While we were experimenting with ideas for this cocktail, we stumbled upon the perfect mix for a shot fitting Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle.  We have 2 recipes for A Beautiful Heart here, depending on how sweet you like your cocktails.  Version one is our first, but about half way through drinking it the Mrs found it to be too sweet for her palette to drink anymore.  So we went back to the drawing board and with a minor tweak came up with version 2.  So without further ado, we give you…

A Beautiful Heart - Version 1

1 oz Chambord (Black Raspberry Liqueur)3 oz Martini Moscato D’Asti sparkling wine.5 oz AmarettoCombine in a flute, and enjoy.

A Beautiful Heart - Version 2 

1 oz Chambord2 oz Martini Moscato D’Asti sparkling wine2 oz Raspberry flavored Seltzer.5 oz AmarettoCombine in a flute and enjoy.

A Helping Hand  

1 oz Half and Half.25 oz Amaretto1 oz ChambordCombine in a shot glass and enjoy.You might not actually want Sweetie Belle to help you out.  I mean… she means well.. but ya know… it doesn’t really work out for her… or for you.

Posted May 8, 2012 at 1:46 am 11 notes

After a hard day of bucking apples in the field, the Apple family likes to put their hooves up and enjoy this refreshing drink.  The Apple Family Hard Cider is a smooth, mellow drink that goes down easy and leaves you with a delicious cinnamon aftertaste.  So y’all just kick back, wipe the sweat from your brow, and have a glass… or a jar. Apple Family Hard Cider  8 oz Apple Family Cider 2 oz Apple Jack Brandy 1 oz Amaretto .5 oz Cinnamon liqueur Combine over ice Enjoy the fruits of your labor

After a hard day of bucking apples in the field, the Apple family likes to put their hooves up and enjoy this refreshing drink.  The Apple Family Hard Cider is a smooth, mellow drink that goes down easy and leaves you with a delicious cinnamon aftertaste.  So y’all just kick back, wipe the sweat from your brow, and have a glass… or a jar.

Apple Family Hard Cider 

  • 8 oz Apple Family Cider
  • 2 oz Apple Jack Brandy
  • 1 oz Amaretto
  • .5 oz Cinnamon liqueur
  1. Combine over ice
  2. Enjoy the fruits of your labor

Posted May 6, 2012 at 8:04 pm 11 notes

Tonight we draw some inspiration from Ponyville with this drink inspiried by the resident party animal, Pinkamena Diane Pie… or as we all know her.. Pinkie Pie. The Pinkie Promise - Yields 2 drinks 3 oz Milk 3 oz Cotton Candy Vodka 1 oz Strawberry Syrup Strawberry Ice cream to taste Whipped Cream to taste 1 Strawberry Put Milk, Vodka, Syrup and Ice Cream in a blender Blend it up!  Add ice cream until it’s the kind of thickness that you like.  We used somewhere in the neighborhood of a pint. Now set that aside for a moment and get your glass of choice.  Swirl some strawberry syrup along the sides.  It works better with colder syrup, so throw it in the fridge for a spell.  Simply tilt your glass to the side, twist and pour. Pour the shake portion into your glass Whip cream up the top Top it off with a strawberry And remember:  Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise!

Tonight we draw some inspiration from Ponyville with this drink inspiried by the resident party animal, Pinkamena Diane Pie… or as we all know her.. Pinkie Pie.

The Pinkie Promise - Yields 2 drinks

  • 3 oz Milk
  • 3 oz Cotton Candy Vodka
  • 1 oz Strawberry Syrup
  • Strawberry Ice cream to taste
  • Whipped Cream to taste
  • 1 Strawberry
  1. Put Milk, Vodka, Syrup and Ice Cream in a blender
  2. Blend it up!  Add ice cream until it’s the kind of thickness that you like.  We used somewhere in the neighborhood of a pint.
  3. Now set that aside for a moment and get your glass of choice.  Swirl some strawberry syrup along the sides.  It works better with colder syrup, so throw it in the fridge for a spell.  Simply tilt your glass to the side, twist and pour.
  4. Pour the shake portion into your glass
  5. Whip cream up the top
  6. Top it off with a strawberry
  7. And remember:  Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise!

Posted April 24, 2012 at 9:00 pm 49 notes