"SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORG!!!" ~ Smorg

That's really all you have to say for yourself? 

Inspiration

I'll admit right up front here that it was difficult to come up with a drink for Smorg. I took that as a challenge though. From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to have a drink with a more elaborate display than usual, however, I struggled to find where the drink itself would fit. 

Smorg itself is a bit of a mystery, seemingly popping up out of nowhere to attack the Excess Express and its passengers. Such an odd and ambiguous creature. I allowed my stream of consciousness come up with something odd. The martini glass felt like a proper receptacle to be held by Smorg. Why not a martini then? Not just any though, one that's unusual. 

You're Drinking Vinegar?

Why yes! The original inspiration for what would become Smorg is a Gibson martini which is like a normal gin martini with some extra onion brine. Onion brine is mostly vinegar anyways, so we made our own. 

Red cabbage makes for an excellent natural colorant (it's also a pH indicator that can change color), and it has a history of being pickled. Apples and red cabbages are served together in German cuisine, so combining the two made sense. 

To make Granny Smith & Red Cabbage Vinegar:

• Chop up a head of red cabbage then place in a clean jar, and fill it to the brim with a natural vinegar.

• Let sit overnight and separate your lightly pickled red cabbage from the tinted vinegar. 

• Put the vinegar in a saucepan and combine with two sliced granny smith apples. 

• Simmer on low until the apples become soft.

• Strain into a container.

We found that the vinegar was just too potent to stand as a featured ingredient. So we turned to find some inspiration in our book libraxry. Wild Drinks and Cocktails by Emily Han has a wonderful chapter on switchels, which are essentially sweetened vinegar-water drinks dating way back. 

To make Granny Smith & Red Cabbage Vinegar Switchel:

• 2 oz (59 ml) Granny Smith & Red Cabbage Vinegar

• 2 oz (59 ml) Blackstrap Molasses

• 4 oz (118 ml) Water

Why Madeira?

Another book in the XBar's libraxry, The Flavor Matrix by Brooke Parkhurst and Chef James Briscione, details the commonalities between certain ingredients based on the chemical makeup of their flavor components. The matrix in the cabbages section lists a 55% commonality between the flavor components in cabbages to Madeira and Sherry wines. Excellent!

In the original martini recipe, a dry vermouth is used to pair with the gin (or in the case of a vodka martini, vodka). Vermouths are aromatized wines, so swapping out one type of wine with another given the similarity of flavors felt like the right decision.

Flavor Analysis

I'm not gonna lie, this one tastes weird but I'll do my best to break it down for ya. Right off the bat, the juniper-infused fumes from the gin greet your palette and meld with the notes from the switchel.   I found it hard to pick out individual flavors from either the molasses or the vinegar in the switchel. The slightly sweet, tart, and savory pieces of the switchel seem to tie themselves to the similar yet better-expressed notes in the Madeira wine. 

I'd be missing something if I didn't point out that this drink almost tastes a little "meaty". Something about the way it all combines is just so perplexing. Overall, it took a few times to get this cocktail "right". And by "right" I mean that by the time I locked in the recipe, I had nothing to say except, "I don't really know what that was but... I think I'll make another one."

Smorg Glass

The Smorg-craft that wraps around the martini glass used in the photoshoot was made from pipe cleaners, some wire for structural support, and small gem stickers. I also thought about just printing out a bunch of lil Smorg images and stringing them together with wire, buuuuuuuut I've got other cocktail recipes to work out so...😄

I wouldn't recommend serving the drink this way since there were a number of little pipe cleaner fuzzies that may have made their way into my mouth. *Yeesh* but for a little fun, it was worth the display.