I’ve Heard It Both Ways

• 1.0 oz. Diplomatico rum
• 1.0 oz. Ritual Sister
• 1.0 oz. Huana Guanabana liqueur
• 0.5 oz. Velvet Falernum
• 0.5 oz. lime juice
• dash of Angostura bitters
• dash of Crude Tiki Threeki bitters

Shake with ice and strain into coupe.

Ritual Sister, a smoked pineapple eue de vie, was a recent acquisition that I was looking to experiment with, and my initial instinct was to go tiki and pair it with rum. The Huana is from the same distiller who produces Kalani coconut liqueur, and presents an interesting sort of pineapple, strawberry, coconut hybrid taste.

The sweetness needed a little warming depth from the falernum, and for tart I chose lime. The two bitters balanced and smoothed things out.

The name is a reference to a running gag that was done on the Psych television show, a show that had another bit where a pineapple was hidden (well, or obviously) in every episode.

C’mon, son! Have you heard about Pluto?

Juniper Fairy

• 2.0 oz. French gin (Esme)
• 0.5 oz. dry vermouth
• 0.5 oz. apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
• 0.25 oz. absinthe (Kübler)
• barspoon of simple syrup
• dash of Regan’s orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into coupe.

Absinthe! I wanted a cocktail that highlighted absinthe, falling somewhere between a dash in a drink and a traditional absinthe pour, with gin as a base.

I used a French gin in this case, but actually tried a number of gins with equal success. Apricot is a flavor I felt might pair well, and the vermouth lengthens the drink with some additional botanical and wine influence. Add the sugar for additional sweetness, if desired, then finish with the bitters.

I.. can’t recall the exact origin of this name, although I acknowledge it is not very clever. Was I thinking of a play on juniper berry? Did I misread some entries on the the Juniper Tree fairy tale? Was it just late and I just settled for a name? I don’t know. Also, I don’t much care as long as I have this drink in hand.

Terra Mater

• 1.5 oz. Sochu
• 0.75 oz. Yobo Kish Earth
• 0.5 oz. Tempus Fugit Kina L’aéro D’Or
• 0.5 oz. loganberry liqueur
• dash of Fee’s Black Walnut bitters

Stir with ice and strain into coupe.

I don’t think I’ve ever used sochu, a Japanese spirit distilled from a variety of things like rice, buckwheat or sweet potato, in an original cocktail. In this case, I started with a sweet potato based one I had picked up some time ago in Tokyo.

This really was to play a bit with one of Chef Kristen Kish’s (of Top Chef fame — I’m a bit of a fan) new series of liqueurs. Earth has notes of smoked mushroom and an umami profile. So to this and the sochu I added some tart loganberry for sweetness and some bitter from the Kina. The black walnut bitters just seemed right for balance.

The title just took the name Earth further, with the Latin for Earth Mother, which struck me as appropriate with all of the fruits, nuts and bounties of the earth. I love that human nature historically has pushed us to take all of that and make alcohol. Naturally.