Up at the crack of dawn, but so are they. Bellowing all over the village with their fool’s tale, oh just how “Fortune favours the brave!”. Desperate to show off their knightly deeds, their lavish spoils, thirsting for thumbs-up from simple village folk. The daily grind of selling out one’s soul. These lords know little of quiet bravery. Bravery to find strength and rise before the sun’s up. To rise when face down in the dirt and smile toothless in a pigsty. Bravery that gets your guts screaming, and still you try and fail and fight to try again. Fortune favours perseverance. And if she walks among us too, maybe she’ll stop by our tavern someday.
There’s some therapeutic merit in the slow-paced alchemy of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Picking fresh herbs, grinding them, timing the bubbling cauldron… as with any cocktail, being hasty or sloppy with your ingredients can ruin a good brew. The game features a cartload of potion recipes, but alas! Most aren’t well suited for sensitive cityfolk tummies. Thankfully, herbswoman Bozhena taught me how to prepare a soothing decoction — the Chamomile Brew. Not only does it pull Hans Capon from death’s door, but is also a tasty nightcap after an intense day of (corporate) battles. A recap of the original process in KCD2:
My quest, bestowed upon me by me, was to transform the original brew into a medieval spin on a martini. Instead of red wine as the base, I chose dry vermouth — fortified wine. “Fortified spirits, fortified castles!” is the label if I ever print one. I infused dried chamomiles in the vermouth, creating a soothing digestif that’s very sippable (based on my second batch already running out). More fortifications were built by infusing sage leaves in vodka, extracting the bitter herbals and their lovely natural green. I’ll gladly base more potions on it, since I’ve not yet exhausted all sage recipes within the Kingdom Come.
So let me add the specifics of this to your Codex, my fellow alchemists.
Herbal Infusion Instructions:
Just like Henry, gather clean herbs from a meadow or simply buy dried ones. I pursued both!
Add 5 g of dried chamomile into 500 ml of dry vermouth. Leave to infuse for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Strain through a cheesecloth or a coffee filter into a bottle. Shelf life — 3 months. Vermouth holds better refrigerated.
Add 10 leaves of fresh sage into 500 ml of vodka. Leave to infuse for 24 hours, then taste. Keep infusing if you prefer more bitterness (for up to 3 days), keep tasting. Strain through a cheesecloth or a coffee filter into a bottle. Shelf life — 3 months recommended.
Cocktail Ingredients:
60 ml (2 oz) Chamomile-Infused Dry Vermouth
30 ml (1 oz) Sage-Infused Vodka
Garnish: Chamomile, Lemon peel
Cocktail Instructions:
- Settle down in your candle-lit alchemy hovel, adventurer.
- Pre-chill an ornate cocktail glass and a mixing glass in the freezer.
- Pour both cocktail ingredients into the mixing glass.
- Stack a few large ice cubes in the middle. Stir for ±30 seconds until chilled.
- Strain into the cocktail glass using a Hawthorne or a Julep strainer.
- Express a fresh lemon peel over the cocktail for its aromatic oils.
- Cut another fresh lemon peel into a banner shape and rest it on the rim.
- Pierce it fearlessly with a cute chamomile.
- Put your horse on autopilot and indulge in the herbal flavours.
- Sleep well to restore your HP.
Suggested Sipping Soundtrack:
A crawl around Bohemia’s best watering spots:
Medieval covers for modern peasants:
Pledged your allegiance to a different game? See if your cocktail is in another castle.
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