Shanghai Mist

Whenever I receive a bottle of spirit with a very specific scent or flavour, it’s actually fun to experiment with combinations. 

I know that a sour base always seems to work, but this time I wanted to stay away from that classic path. 

Panda Gin is not your average gin. It’s a Belgian organic gin packed with flavours from the botanicals used in the production process. The juniper berries are crushed and macerated in basic alcohol before they are added to the still. Next comes the infusion with litchi, cherry, orange peel, star anise and a few undisclosed botanicals. 

The result is a spirit with very rich and fruity notes. Delicate plants like rosemary and basil are macerated separately before being added to the mix. This gin is distilled 6 times in a continuous still. In my personal opinion, this gin has a very oriental style and I decided to work on that. 

Another nice gimmick, I fed the description and the list of ingredients into an artificial intelligence chat server and asked for a suggestion for the name of the drink. I think "Shanghai Mist" was just perfect. 

Shanghai Mist

Ingredients

40ml Panda Gin

30ml Lillet Blanc

30ml Déjà-vu Oriental aperitif     

1d orange bitters

Method

Add the three ingredients to a mixing glass with lots of ice. Give it a good stir for 12 to 15 seconds. Strain into a tumbler with a big rock of clear ice. Garnish with dehydrated blood orange or a beautiful flower. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.