st germain

Recipe

1 oz Mezcal
.75 oz St. Germain Elder Flower Liqueur
1 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Dry White Wine
1 dash Celery Bitters (optional)
Garnish: Olive

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled and diluted. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with an olive.

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I can easily forgive you for not knowing that All Souls’ Day is different from yesterday’s All Saints’ Day. If yesterday was about honoring all the saints in the world today, today is about honoring all those that have died and gone on before us. (Together, these two days constitute Mexico’s “Day of the Dead”.) This day helps us honor our ancestors–both in blood and spirit–to feel their legacy, support, and presence in some way.

It also lends itself to rich symbolism for a great cocktail! This drink is made entirely of spirits (get it?). The Mezcal and celery bitters recall the darkness of death, while the olive brings to mind the salt of tears for those that have passed before us.

But the vermouth and wine bring complexity that reminds us there’s more to it than that. Death is not the end of the story. That’s when the saintly liqueur St Germain brings a bouquet of sweetness and brightness through the darkness. It’s a lovely, delicate, complex drink, like our spiritual legacy.

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Recipe

2 oz Dark Rum
.75 oz St. Germain Elder Flower Liqueur
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Falernum (or Ginger Syrup)
.25 oz All Spice Dram
Garnish: Lemon twist

Add all ingredients to a shaker. Add ice and shake. Double strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a lemon twist.

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Today is All Saints’ Day (and the beginning of Kingdomtide). It is a beautiful Christian feast day that honors all of God’s people, known and unknown.

Every description I’ve seen of this holy day includes that little tag at the end–known or unknown–and I love it. There are those who belong to God in unknown ways we could not define nor specify. This day is a celebration of all the ways God draws people to himself.

And so to all of you saints–known and unknown–I raise a glass in toast of you. And in that glass is one of the best cocktails I’ve ever made.

It is complex and spicy, with a little funk. It is perfectly balanced with some brightness and sweet floral notes. As for symbolism, I just had two requirements when conceiving of this drink: it need All Spice Dram and Saint Germain (All… Saint… Get it?). I honestly didn’t think it’d work, but boy does it.

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