(optional)
•Grated nutmeg (garnish)
Combine all ingredients in a shaker, dry shake until the egg white is fully emulsified, add ice, and shake again. Then, double strain through a fine mesh strainer into a tall Collins glass. (Top with an optional splash of seltzer for some extra froth.) Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
Photo Credit: Ben Paré
Mos Eisley by Way of Amsterdam
When most people think of drinking in Amsterdam, it usually involves a brand that rhymes with Schmeineken. But what a lot of outsiders don’t realize about the Dutch capital is that it has cultivated, in just a few short years, one of the most celebrated craft cocktail scenes in all of Europe—the world even—with bars like Rosalia’s Menagerie, HPS (Hiding in Plain Sight), and Tales & Spirits. The folks running Tales & Spirits have quite the geeky streak running through them and serve a mix series of pop culture-inspired cocktails, one of which is a Star Wars collection. Each drink in the collection features ingredients inspired by key locations in the original trilogy.
Utinni!
Named after the notorious Jawa exclamation, Utinni! draws its inspiration from the diminutive droid dealers’ (and the Mos Eisley Cantina’s) home planet, Tatooine. The drink showcases spirits made from agave, which thrive in similarly dry climates. It also features a nod to Tunisia, the real-world location where George Lucas filmed the Tatooine scene. The cocktail recipe includes ras el hanout, a spice mix native to Tunisia and other North African countries.
•1 ounce Don Julio blanco tequila
•½ ounce Apprendiz Espadin mezcal
•1/3 ounce Galliano Authentico
•1 ounce orange ras el hanout elixir (see recipe below)
•1/3 ounce simple syrup
•2 dashes of Force tincture (see recipe below)
Stir all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour into a rocks glass over one large cube of ice. Garnish with lemon zest, dehydrated lime wheel, and edible violet.
For the orange ras el hanout elixir, combine 1 liter of orange juice, 10 grams of ras el hanouth, and 30 grams of citric acid.
For the Force tincture, roast and grind 10 grams of dried hibiscus, 3 grams of mace (a relative of nutmeg), 20 grams of orange peel, 5 grams of Sichuan peppercorns, 4 cardamom pods, and 5 cloves. Flash fuse in iSi with one 750 ml bottle of white rum and 100 grams of ground dark roast coffee.
Too Hoth to Handle
We move on to The Empire Strikes Back with “Too Hoth to Handle,” which Tales & Spirits serves in a Darth Vader goblet. The bar compares the Rebel Alliance’s battles against the Empire to Scotland’s struggle against the English empire in the eighteenth century. Tales & Spirits also draws another parallel between the Jacobites’ defeat at the Battle of Culloden to the Rebels’ defeat on Hoth. Just as the Rebels went on the run after the Hoth battle, Bonnie Prince Charlie went into hiding on the Isle of Skye—where he reportedly created a special elixir that became Drambuie, a key component of this drink. (It’s a stretch, I know, but the Vader head goblet is pretty cool.)
•2 ounces Amontillado sherry
•2/3 ounce Drambuie
•2 dashes of Spanish bitters
•2 dashes of Force tincture
•2 slices of orange
Shake, strain, and serve over crushed ice in a Darth Vader goblet. Garnish with homemade maraschino cherries, mint sprig, and dehydrated orange.
Photo credit: Jeff Cioletti
Bright Tree Swizzle
To close out the trilogy, “Bright Tree Swizzle” is a nod to Return of the Jedi’s central location, the forest moon of Endor. And, in honor of the Ewoks’ home, the drink is full of forest botanicals. It even includes Redwood shrub (recipe below), a tribute to California’s redwood forest, where the Endor scenes were filmed.
•1 1/3 ounces Death’s Door gin
•1/3 ounce Skinos Mastic liqueur (made from trees!)
•2/3 ounce Smoked Redwood shrub (see recipe below)
•½ ounce lime juice
•2 dashes of Force tincture
Build and churn in a clay mug over crushed ice. Serve with a short straw and garnish with a cinnamon stick, seasonal berries and dehydrated lemon wheel.
For the Redwood shrub, combine 1 kilogram of mixed forest fruits, 1 bush mint, 8.5 ounces of raspberry vinegar, a little over ¾ of an ounce of Laphroaig Scotch whisky, and 1 kilogram of sugar.
The Wretched Hive
The efforts of Tales & Spirits inspired me to create a drink that draws from elements of the Star Wars universe. This one’s a little less complicated, though boukha isn’t always the easiest to find outside of major cities. If you live in a state that allows online retailers to send you alcohol through the mail, you’re in luck.
This cocktail combines a spirit produced on Tatooine (sort of) with a pun. Boukha is the national spirit of Tunisia, which, of course, served as the exterior shooting location for Luke’s and Anakin’s home world. The “hive” is a reference to the honey in this drink. (Get it, bees?) Add a splash of dry mead to double-down on the hive. Then, throw in a lime peel garnish to give it some green, in honor of our dear, departed bounty hunter friend, Greedo. Boukha Bokobsa is the brand you’re likely to find, given its international distribution. It’s a fig-based distillate that’s been in the founding Bokobsa family since the mid-nineteenth century.
•2 ounces Boukha Bokobsa
•¼ ounce dry mead
•¼ ounce honey
•Lime wedge
Pour the boukha, mead, and honey into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir vigorously. Pour into a wine glass or tulip glass. Squeeze in lime, garnish with what’s left.
Chapter 2
The United Fermentation of Planets
Full disclosure: I’ve always had a bit of an on-again, off-again relationship with Star Trek. I’ve never been a full-on Trekkie—the fact that I used that word proves it, because I believe the preferred term is “Trekker.” But my earliest Star Trek memories predate those of my preferred franchise, Star Wars. I was five when I first visited the galaxy far, far away on its initial theatrical run in 1977. But my recollections of watching Kirk and the crew go back as early as—I think—1975. I was three years old. The show had been off the air for about six years, but the local TV station, Channel 11
