“I’m at the top of Hawk Peak right now!” - Claire

Inspiration

A Short Hike is a game just about that, a brief but impactful journey hiking around. In trying to find a game to stream one spare Monday night I approached the Googlord and asked it thus,  “cozy short games”, and was greeted with the title above. This game reminded me about the simplicity and significance of taking time to just, be exposed to nature and all who walk the paths amongst it. I couldn’t have imagined a bigger wave of nostalgia packed into about three-ish hours of game time.

This cocktail was also created for the Cognac USA Any Time & Place Cocktail Competition. This competition called for drinks showcasing that Cognac is not just an after-dinner drink, but also one for, well, any time and any place! For me, I took as inspiration the Short Hike video game and built the cocktail based on ingredients that I would have with me on a hike through the woods near my childhood home.

As of writing this blog post, this cocktail won the Inaugural 2024 Cognac USA Any Time & Place Cocktail Competition among all US entries! Check out the entry on Instagram!

Near home, there were a number of birch trees in a piece of the forest way back and on the mountain. If I were to go back and hike there again, I’d certainly be inclined to rip a few pieces of birch bark off the trees, and try and do a bit of mixology with them. I hope to one day make it back there to try this for real, but in lieu of that, I got some bark from a local herbiary.

Now, I already committed to bringing Cognac with me on this trip (because you can drink it anywhere, right?) I would never go on a journey like this alone, and a number of my closest friends stave off from alcohol. I’d never want to leave them behind, so a can of our favorite soda Coca-Cola would also be in our packs.

I recently came across a recipe for something called Šeto (“SHA-tow”) which, in its enhanced version by Kevin Kos combines egg, wine, and Cognac together, to create something reminiscent of the traditional recipe of Slovenian origin. If I were out in the woods on a prolonged hike, I’d certainly be packing eggs (a troupe’s gotta eat!) and naturally some skillet to cook it on. Naturally, this beverage would be making use of the same tinderbox to keep us warm with and adding a bit of red wine along with our other ingredients would make a nice base for a sort of improvised mulled wine fit for our hiking venture.

Workshopping

Committed to warm feelings of comradery and exploration, I wanted to create a warm drink that could be made while sitting around a fire with my closest pals on a hiking trip. The competition I’d be entering this recipe into required a minimum of 45 ml (or about 1.5 oz) of Cognac as its base, so I combined it with red wine, cola, and egg to find something that sipped comfortably.

I started with a heavier ratio of red wine and cola and found that the flavor of the cabernet sauvignon that I was using quickly overpowered the Cognac and cola. In my initial mix, I focused on the ratio of those three ingredients first before experimenting with the birch bark that I figured I’d grab on my metaphorical hiking adventure. It had a bit of a cardboardy taste to it when brewed in a tea, but it had an undeniable-yet-slight air of a familiar birch beer.

Mixing this bark into the mixture of Cognac, egg, wine, and cola altered the taste slightly making it more dry and earthy. Although there were slight notes of birch and noticeable cola flavors, I found that they we a bit overshadowed by the red wine in particular. Dialing back on the red wine and adding a bit of sassafras and sorghum bitters amplified those flavors that I so enjoy in soda.

Flavor Analysis

A thick and creamy beverage with forefront flavors of Cognac (notes of pear and nectarine) mingling with residual baking spices. The end palate is heavy and smooth with a lingering soda-like sweetness edging somewhere between birch beer and cola.