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.