The Offering by Alex Wiegand

Creating a toast for this complex marvel of a box posed a particular challenge. I’ll usually find a classic or modern cocktail which echoes the name of the box, or pair a regional spirit with the artist’s place of residence. Sometimes I’ll come up with a convoluted association and see if anyone can deduce the reason for the pairing. If I can’t find anything at all useful I’ve also been known to make up a new cocktail for the occasion. It boggles the imagination but I wasn’t able to find anything remotely palatable related to ancient lost dwarf civilizations. Rob suggested the “Red Dwarf”, an interesting concoction with rum and juices I had not heard of before, but I had already decided on something else. These blog posts take time, effort, a bit of research, and a lot of commitment. Rob recognized that a while back and took to calling them my “offerings” rather than my “posts”.

I rather like the sound of that term and appreciate the sentiment it evokes. So here’s an offering to pair with this offering.

I'll make you an Offering you can't refuse ... 

Or perhaps I should say to “pear” with this offering.

This cocktail, by way of Alex Wiegand from Cambridge Massachusetts, employs a pear shrub to impart a delicious sweet and tart flavor to the drink. Shrubs are old fashioned fruit and vinegar based drinks which originated in England (by way of Persia) and were used long ago as health tonics. They are sometimes known as “drinking vinegars” and have made a come back in recent times as both stand alone beverages and as cocktail ingredients. Homemade shrubs are delicious – this one calls for freshly chopped pear, turbinado sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and sherry vinegar. I’ve taken the essential ingredients and made a quick workaround by using the incredibly delicious St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur and adding pear infused balsamic vinegar, with quite satisfactory results. Another interesting component to this offering is Cardamaro, another fascinating Italian amaro. Like all amaros it is an infused regional wine, with herbal and bitter components, traditionally used as a digestive aid after a delicious meal. You’d be forgiven for thinking it must be infused with cardamom, which is what we all think initially. The key ingredients here are actually cardoon, and blessed thistle, both from the artichoke family. Cardamaro is rich and sweet, with only very subtle hints of herb and hardly any bitterness. It’s a wonderful amaro to try.

Lastly I’ve added a few dashes of something uniquely suited to this drink pairing, some Stickman Sapele Bitters. These are really a tincture Rob made from actual Sapele wood, the very same wood used to make the Dwemer Construct. If you have access to any slivers of Sapele wood, a similar effect can be produced by simply adding a sliver, perhaps in the form of a stirring stick, to the glass. The flavors will seep into it due to the alcohol, imparting a mellow sweetness and aging to the drink. A final word about amaros is that they are created from dozens of local ingredients including plants, roots, bark and flowers indigenous to whatever region the amaro is from. There is a masterful creativity in determining what to combine, in what way, and where to add it in the process, to create something incredible. It’s a perfect element to compliment this particular offering. Cheers!

Offering up this pair of constructs

The Offering by Alex Weigand

1 ½ oz reposado tequila

1 oz Cardamaro

¾ oz pear shrub

½ oz fresh lemon

(2 dashes Sapele bitters or stirring stick)

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Garnish with citrus construct.