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Cocktail History
The Fangorn Forest is a Sips From Scripts original cocktail that was created as part of a series of The Lord of the Rings recipes made in honor of the release of The Rings of Power, a show that serves as a prequel to the original movie trilogy. The drink was inspired by Treebeard, an Ent who was the oldest of the tree-like characters and a “shepherd of trees” from the original trilogy. As a nod to Treebeard’s eccentricity both in origin and dialogue, we went with herbal gin and sherry as the base and paired them with black tea, a unique mushroom honey syrup, citrus, and bitters to create a refreshing cooler that we think represents the ancient peoples of the forest well.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Gin: This is a spirit made with juniper berries, botanicals, and alcohol. We used PARK Distillery Alpine Dry Gin because it has a fresh gin flavor and is distilled from glacier freshwater and spruce tips from a national park in Canada. For a mocktail version of this drink, try MONDAY Zero Alcohol Gin in place of the gin.
Amontillado Sherry: This is a type of medium-dry fortified wine made in Spain with palomino grapes. We used Don Benigno Amontillado Sherry because it has a dry and rich wine flavor. For a mocktail version of this drink, try non-alcoholic sherry flavoring in place of the sherry.
Lapsang Souchong Tea: This is a black tea that is smoke-dried over pinewood fire. We used Twinings Lapsang Souchong Black Tea.
Mushroom Honey Syrup: This is a sweetener made with baby portobello mushrooms, honey, and water. We made ours at home using Alex’s stovetop recipe.
Lemon Juice: This is the liquid juice of a lemon. We used freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Spruce & Birch Bitters: This is a food product made with spruce, birch, botanicals, herbs, and alcohol. We used Crude Bitters & Sodas “Apothecary” Spruce & Birch Bitters.
Rhubarb Bitters: This is a food product made with rhubarb, herbs, botanicals, and alcohol. We used Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters.
Baby Portobello Mushrooms: This is a miniature portobello mushroom.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Boston Shaker: This is used to shake ingredients. We used the Boston shaker from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Hawthorne Strainer: This is used to strain out ice and solid ingredients after the cocktail is shaken. We used the A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer.
Paring Knife: This is used to cut ingredients. We used the OXO Good Grips 3.5 Inch Paring Knife.
Juicer: This is used to juice citrus. We used the ALEEHAI Manual Fruit Juicer.
Cocktail Pick: This is used to hold the garnish. We used one from the Homestia Stainless Steel Cocktail Pick Set.
Tasting Notes
The Fangorn Forest starts with earthy aromas of mushroom and tobacco and has a refreshing yet slightly tart taste that features a mashup of earthy tea, gin botanicals, and honey sweetness combined with savory mushroom and sherry. It then finishes with a lemon-tinged taste of tea and mushroom.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: Despite its disparate and admittedly odd ingredients, this drink is balanced with a light body and a natural taste. We both really liked how the Fangorn Forest turned out, with Kendall mentioning it’s her favorite of The Lord of the Rings cocktails we created this year.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This drink was built upon the theory of earthiness with sherry and mushroom being two of the main components I wanted to play with. The mushroom honey syrup ended up being really interesting because it had the honey’s sweetness and flavor with a unique earthy mushroom aroma and aftertaste; that, combined with the tobacco-like tea and a few dashes of flavored bitters, made a drink that came together fantastically well despite having some strange and weird-tasting ingredients. It’s extremely refreshing and quite tasty, as long as you don’t mind a bit of umami savoriness.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Out of our cocktails inspired by The Lord of the Rings characters, this was definitely my favorite. It has such a unique blend of ingredients that’s not immediately clear what to expect for the drink’s flavor, but I found it to be a tasty mashup of earthy and herbal tastes with mushroom shining the most brightly. The sherry also peeks through a bit but not so much to turn me off since I don’t usually go for the stuff. If you’re looking for a drink with just the right umami flavor, this is a winner whether you understand the character reference or not.”
Recipe
Add gin, sherry, tea, mushroom honey syrup, lemon juice, bitters, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into a highball glass over fresh cracked ice.
Garnish with baby portobello mushroom slices.
Ingredients
Directions
Add gin, sherry, tea, mushroom honey syrup, lemon juice, bitters, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into a highball glass over fresh cracked ice.
Garnish with baby portobello mushroom slices.
Make It a Mocktail: Use MONDAY Zero Alcohol Gin in place of the gin and non-alcoholic sherry flavoring in place of the sherry to try a booze-free version of this drink.
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More Cocktails from Movies & TV Shows
If you like this cocktail recipe, here are a few others inspired by movies and shows we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
Miruvor (The Lord of the Rings): A gin cocktail made with elderflower liqueur, white tea, honey syrup, and orange flower water
The Last Variant (Loki): An aquavit cocktail made with honey liqueur, Green Chartreuse, and lime juice
Stick ‘Em in a Stew (The Lord of the Rings): A potato vodka cocktail made with tomato juice or Bloody Mary mix, carry juice, celery bitters, Worcestershire sauce, saline solution, a meat stick, a canned potato, a cocktail onion, a baby carrot, a cherry tomato, thyme sprigs, and celery salt
Tatooine Sunset (Star Wars): A tequila cocktail made with blue curaçao, pomegranate juice, grenadine, orange juice, lemon juice, and cherries
The Crown of Gondor (The Lord of the Rings): A stout beer and red wine cocktail made with winter herb syrup, rosemary, and thyme
Spirits Lifted (WandaVision): A peppered gin and vodka cocktail made with vermouth, paprika tincture, smoke & salt bitters, and cocktail onions
Butterbeer (Harry Potter): A stout beer and spiced rum cocktail made with evaporated milk, butter, margarine, vanilla extract, brown sugar, whole cloves, whole allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, and nutmeg
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