We pay our last respects to True Blood’s final season with a week of drinks almost as delicious as Sookie’s Fairy Blood.

Get ready for a tasty trip back in time as we explore drinks your favorite vampires would’ve quaffed before they were turned.

Lorena Krasiki (Turned 1759)

THE WOMAN

It’s hard to believe someone as bloody- minded as Lorena Krasiki was once a sweet girl looking forward to life as a nun.

Lorena’s human mother was an unmarried lady in waiting for the Empress of Austria. The Empress thought joining a convent would give the girl a respectable future as well as help provide cosmic balance for her conception in sin.

The night before Lorena was supposed to take her vows, a vampire decided the pretty woman looked both tasty and useful. She made her way out of Austria and over to America where she could prey on soldiers. The Revolutionary War, the Mexican-American War and eventually the Civil War made it easy for her to feed on soldiers who would never be missed.

Bill Compton was only miles from home when he became one of a long line of soldiers who survived the war only to fall prey to Lorena.

THE CULTURE

Cocktails as we know them didn’t exist during the mid 18th century. Instead, Americans drank hard cider, beer, or ale. Depending on where they lived, some Europeans would also drink wine. No one dared drink water. That said, people still liked to make a fancy beverage for a special occasion. That usually meant some kind of punch featuring a lot of citrus and some imported spices. Sometimes, though, people craved the creamy deliciousness that only comes from milk. Thus the Syllabub was born.

The wine and whipped cream concoction fell out of favor with the invention of ice cream. That’s a shame, because it’s a deliciously decadent excuse to mix your drinking and dessert.

THE DRINKS

Bloody Red Syllabub

If you’re going to seduce a battle hardened soldier who spent the last few months eating nothing but hard tack and possum, be careful before serving him a fine Syllabub. He may be so overwhelmed he collapses from a heart attack because he thinks the very gates of heaven have opened up and freed him from this suffering. Try giving him a little rough brown bread first to ease him into the spirit of things.

– 4 cups Cream
– 3 cups Wine
– 2 cups Sugar
– 2 Lemons or Limes
– 1 sprig Rosemary

To make historic Syllabub, start by mixing your wine, sugar, and citrus. A white wine Syllabub would normally be made with lemon juice while a red wine Syllabub would be mixed with lime or orange.

The texture of a fully frothed red wine Syllabub bears a striking resemblance to a freshly staked vampire. Pour your heavy cream into your sugared wine and citrus mix. In the 18th century, a household servant would’ve spent hours with a whisk properly beating the cream into an edible froth. Today, lazy degenerates can pour everything into a bowl and attack it with a hand mixer set to medium. After a mere ten minutes the Syllabub will transform into a striking red whipped cream.

Layer the mix into glasses with a wide bulb on top. Guinness pint glasses or ice cream float glasses are a good modern substitute. Real Syllabub glasses had a spout at the bottom so you could pour off the drink while still eating the cream. You can achieve a similar effect by serving yours with a long straw.

Let the Syllabub sit in the fridge for about four hours while fluid separates out from the cream. You should end up with a dark, red-black fluid lurking beneath a cloudy red layer of sweet, fleshy foam. Serve with good finger sandwiches and bad intentions.

Lorena’s Bloody Brandy

If you’re in the mood for something simpler, or if you’d rather not sweeten your soldier before you eat him, you can always make a glass of 18th century Bloody Brandy. The bitter tang will prepare him for the disappointment of discovering dying in battle isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a man.

– 1 shot Whiskey
– 1 shot Cherry Brandy
– 1/2 shot Sweet Vermouth
– Juice of 1/2 Blood Orange
– 1 tsp Sugar
– 1 dash Orange Bitters

Blood Oranges mock all the best things about a regular orange. Instead of a tart sweetness, the flesh has a bitter tang. The sunny brightness of the juice is replaced by a dark, bloody color with a pungent aroma. In the 18th century, when style mattered more than taste, blood oranges were a popular way of ruining an otherwise tasty drink.

To make this grisly Revolutionary War era drink, simply dump everything into a highball glass and stir it up with a cinnamon stick. Admire the bloody color before offering it up to your prey. Alternately, you could make the same thing with regular orange juice if you want to do something as lowbrow as enjoying flavor rather than presentation.