The final spirit to visit Scrooge is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Hooded and mute, the ghost arrives in a phantasmal mist and shows Scrooge a number of individuals rejoicing and pilfering belongings from a recently deceased individual. The revelation that the man who died and of whom the others spoke so unkindly was, in fact, Scrooge himself causes his change in character.
For today's cocktail, we wanted to try a "future thinking" version of a martini. We had heard mushroom infusions and decided to challenge ourselves to make palatable cocktail out of such an infusion. (The mushrooms also echoed the earthy nature of the final ghost.) Instead of using vodka or gin, we decided to try shōchū, a Japanese spirit made from barley, rice or sweet potato. We used dried shiitakes to make the infusion which turned out quite well. For the cocktail, we added some brandy to increase the its body and some chartreuse to add some herbal notes. All in all we came up with a pretty interesting and drinkable cocktail.
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Cocktail:
- 2 oz shiitake infused shōchū
- 1 oz brandy
- ½ oz green chartreuse
- piece of lemon rind
- cocktail glass
Pour the shōchū, brandy, chartreuse and lemon rind into a cocktail shaker with a piece of ice. Swirl until nicely chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass. Remove the lemon rind from the shaker and place it on top of the cocktail.
Cocktail Notes:
To make the shittake infusion, we put 2 tbsp of dried shittake mushrooms into a mason jar with approximately 1 ½ cups of shōchū. We allowed the mixture to infuse for 2 days until it reached the desired level of flavour intensity. We then strained the infusion through cheesecloth and a sieve. The infused shōchū can be kept in the refrigerator, covered, for approximately a month.
The shōchū we used was made from distilled barley and had a very clean taste to it. This allowed for the shiitake mushroom taste to come through but adding a slightly sweet taste to the infusion.
The cocktail is definitely something that needs to be comsumed with a meal. In fact, after tasting we were jonesing for a good meaty steak.
Inspiration:
Sometimes meeting the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is scary. And sometimes it's hilarious.
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