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Cocktail History
The Stick ‘Em in a Stew 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. Inspired by Samwise Gamgee’s iconic quote about potatoes in The Two Towers, this drink uses the Bloody Mary template but adds several stew ingredients, including carrot juice, potato-based vodka, celery bitters, and an array of savory veggies.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Vodka: This is a spirit made with grains, vegetables or fruits, and alcohol. We used Chopin Potato Vodka because it’s made with potatoes and has a full-bodied flavor. For a mocktail version of this drink, try STRYKK Not V*dka in place of the vodka.
Tomato Juice or Bloody Mary Mix: This is the liquid juice of a tomato or a liquid mixture made with vegetable juices, vinegar, sugar, and spices. If you prefer tomato juice, we used Clamato Tomato Cocktail. If you prefer Bloody Mary Mix, we like Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix because it has notes of carrot, celery, beet, lettuce, onion, and parsley.
Carrot Juice: This is the liquid juice of a carrot. We freshly squeezed carrot juice.
Celery Bitters: This is a food product made with celery, botanicals, herbs, and alcohol. We used Fee Brothers Celery Bitters.
Worcestershire Sauce: This is a savory sauce made with soy sauce and vinegar.
Saline Solution: This is a solution made with five to one kosher salt and water.
Meat Stick: This is ground and seasoned meat that has been stuffed into a casing, cooked, and dried. We used Crescent Meats Original Meat Sticks.
Canned Potato: This is a miniature potato that has been preserved in water.
Cocktail Onion: This is a miniature onion that has been preserved in vinegar.
Baby Carrot: This is a miniature carrot.
Cherry Tomato: This is a tomato variety that is named for its cherry shape.
Thyme: This is an herb.
Celery Salt: This is a mixture of ground celery seeds and table salt.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Chef’s Knife: This is used to cut larger fruits and vegetables into slices for the garnish. We used the OXO Good Grips 8-Inch Chef’s Knife.
Juicer: This is used to juice citrus, fruits, and vegetables. We used the Hamilton Beach Large Juicer.
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Bar Spoon: This is used to stir ingredients. We used the Barfly Stainless Steel Teardrop Bar Spoon.
Cocktail Pick: This is used to hold the garnish. We used one from the I-MART Stainless Steel Cocktail Pick Set.
Tasting Notes
The Stick ‘Em in a Stew features a variety of vegetal aromas including sweet onion, carrot, thyme, and celery and has a savory taste kickstarted with a hit of celery salt and followed with a very non-acidic mix of carrot and tomato, with tomato’s tartness showing slightly through aided by the tangy Worcestershire and celery bitters; the whole mixture then goes down with more carrot and celery flavor that lingers on the tongue.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: Thanks to its classic stew ingredient garnishes, this drink makes for a tasty, savory snack while you sip, and the Stick ‘Em in a Stew is a great batchable accompaniment to a watch party gathering.
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: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“When designing this recipe, we started with a base of potato vodka and built from there, ending up with what is essentially a Bloody Mary with extra ingredients. Carrot juice plays the main role, taking away a lot of tomato’s natural acidity and replacing it with a different flavor altogether, and to subdue that flavor, I added some celery bitters, saline solution, and, of course, a celery salt rim. Altogether the drink was quite good, as long as you’re a decent fan of carrot juice, and it’s a relatively easy drink for your The Lord of the Rings watch party.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“When deciding which The Lord of the Rings characters would be the inspiration for this year’s Halloween drinks, I brought up wanting to do a Samwise Gamgee drink because of his iconic ‘po-ta-to’ quote in The Two Towers. In said quote, he mentions using them in a stew, so naturally we turned to the Bloody Mary for inspiration since that drink is essentially soup. Alex did a really good job of creating a variation that I could absolutely picture being served at breakfast or second breakfast in The Shire. It’s a nice dose of veggie flavor with a hint of savoriness that makes sipping it feel like you’re drinking a garden.”
Recipe
Pour celery salt onto a plate, rub outer rim of a beer mug with lime rind, and roll glass in salt until coated.
Add vodka, tomato juice, carrot juice, bitters, Worcestershire sauce, saline solution, and cracked ice to the salt-rimmed mug.
Stir gently for 5-10 seconds.
Garnish with meat stick, potato, onion, carrot, tomato, and thyme sprigs.
Ingredients
Directions
Pour celery salt onto a plate, rub outer rim of a beer mug with lime rind, and roll glass in salt until coated.
Add vodka, tomato juice, carrot juice, bitters, Worcestershire sauce, saline solution, and cracked ice to the salt-rimmed mug.
Stir gently for 5-10 seconds.
Garnish with meat stick, potato, onion, carrot, tomato, and thyme sprigs.
Make It a Mocktail: Use STRYKK Not V*dka in place of the vodka 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
Tatooine Sunset (Star Wars): A tequila cocktail made with blue curaçao, pomegranate juice, grenadine, orange juice, lemon juice, and cherries
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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