I'll have one of those Tru:Blood. . .cocktails.

Tru:Blood Cocktails served at Bondi Party

Last Saturday, HBO via @TrueBloodHBO and Alan Ball at the True Blood Comic-Con panel, announced the launch of the new Tru:Blood soda.

My friends and I had the of pleasure of tasting it at the Bondi post-panel party.  All in all, not too bad. The soda itself is a little strange at the first sip.  But don’t let that stop you.  It’s not overly sweet and has a bit of tart to balance it out.  Given that I LOVE blood oranges, blood orange juice, Campari, I was hoping for a pinch of bitter.  No bitter, but I’ll live.

Feel free to serve it on ice or you can try one of these cocktail ideas.  Given the flavor of the soda, I wouldn’t recommend going crazy fancy pants on the ingredients.  Maybe when I get my 4-pack in the mail, I’ll think about whipping up something that’s blood orange and chocolate.  Then again, maybe I won’t.

WARNING: I don’t measure.  As a point of reference, I’m usually pouring into an old-fashioned glass, so when I say “count to 4 as you pour” assume that I’m pouring into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice.

Tru:Blood Bondi

Tru:Blood
Vodka (I think they had Skyy at the bar, but PLEASE do not ask me to remember)

Those pint glasses look pretty tall. By my estimate, fill a pint glass with ice.  Pour the vodka into the glass, counting to 7 or 8 as you do, then top off with Tru:Blood.

Tru:Blood Orange Margarita

Tru:Blood
Margarita salt
Tequila — preferably a silver or blanco
Triple Sec
Fresh lime juice

You’ll need a cocktail shaker for this.  Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice and toss the ice into the shaker.  Pour in the tequila, counting to 4 as you pour. Give it a splash of triple-sec.  Squeeze the juice of half a lime in, then pour in about half of an old-fashioned glass worth of Tru:Blood into the shaker.

Shake like crazy, then pour into an an old-fashioned glass rimmed with salt.

Tru:Blood Pimm’s Cups

Tru:Blood
Pimm’s

I figure if you can mix Pimm’s with lemonade or Sprite, or Ginger Ale, why not Tru:Blood? Plus the Pimm’s gives me that little bit of bitter that I’m missing.

Grab a highball glass and fill it with ice.  Pour in the Pimm’s, counting to 4-6 as you pour.  You should fill up about a 1/3 of the glass.  Top it off with the Tru:Blood and stir.

Tru:Blood Red

Tru:Blood
Campari

Here’s another drink that adds a bit of the bitter back into the blood orange.  The red in the Campari liquor deepens the red of the drink.  Fill a high-ball with ice.  Count to 4-6 as you pour.  Again, you should fill up about a 1/3 of the glass.  Top off with Tru:Blood, and then stir.  If you’ve got a slice of orange, toss it in.

Tru:Blood beverage will be available in stores in September.  Pre-order your 4-pack online via the HBO Store here.