Halloween Cocktailing

It's Halloween, and the princesses, cowboys, and vampires are all in fine form.

Not to be outdone, I soldered together a mk1 arc reactor, pulled on a hoodie and a pair of sunglasses, and daydreamed about being Tony Stark supervising the distribution of custom-made, gold-foil-wrapped Knipschildt truffles to the children of Malibu's elite.

"That's the third time those Jolie-Pitt kids have come around, Jarvis... their costume changes haven't even been convincing.  What's the point of having an AI system if it can't even hand out candy properly?"

"Sir, my 'Trick or Treat' subroutine has failed to import my facial recognition library, and I haven't had a moment to recompile – will you just look at this line?"

"You're a disgrace to machine learning, Jarvis."

Because I am a procrastinator, I didn't order said costume sunglasses until Monday night, and the cheap-o eyewear didn't come close to the $35 minimum for Prime One-Day Shipping.  Eager to tinker (and hit my shipping minimum), I added a sampler pack of Calvit's Shrubs to my cart.


I've been curious about shrubs – not of the short-statured bushy vegetative variety, of course, but the vinegar-based syrup kind.  A descendant of medicinal cordials, the shrub is experiencing a resurgence thanks to the craft cocktail movement, but I still don't see it on cocktail menus on a regular basis yet.  So when my wife and I asked each other "what are we drinking?" in near-unison when I arrived home from work, I broke open the package with glee.

Sampler #1 features an herby, earthy trio of Thai Basil, Ginger & Lemongrass, and Beet & Ginger, all handmade elixirs for mixing with cocktails, soda or tonic.  Scouring the basement produced some homemade Chambord from Andrew Schloss' Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits and a bottle of Bacardi (pay no attention to the Tito's in the pic -- misguided mod), which I thought would go nicely with the Beet & Ginger. A squeeze of lemon, a shaker of ice, a splash of soda and two chilled glasses later, I had my very own Halloween original I've dubbed...

(drumroll, please...)

Cham-BOO-d Blood Punch!

Whatever, yo, I'm not in Marketing anymore, feel free to come up with your own damn name for it.

Cham-BOO-d Blood Punch

2 oz. Rum
1 oz. Chambord
.5 oz. lemon juice
Calvit's Beet & Ginger shrub
soda
thin slice of lemon
black raspberries if you got 'em

Fill a highball glass with ice.  I used a tumbler because Tony Stark uses whatever fucking glass he wants.

Mix the shrub syrup with soda following the instructions on the label.

Combine rum, Chambord and lemon juice in a shaker with ice.  Shake until very cold and strain into your glass.

Top with soda, and garnish with a lemon slice and, optionally, black raspberries. 

Alternatively, add a smidge of the shrub syrup to your shaker, skip the soda, and serve straight up.