The Fellowship of the Ring Reimagined Through Two Cocktails: Fresh and Botanical- The Shire and the Fiery and Irresistible- My Precious.

Almost four thousand years after the Rings of Power were forged in Middle Earth, and the days of fighting for freedom from the Dark Lord Sauron have long been forgotten or rather, become lore.  A wizard, Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) has not forgotten and has been called to put into motion a plan to dispose of the most powerful talisman created in Middle Earth, The One Ring.  Before he does that, he's called to attend the 111th birthday party for his old friend, and owner of The One Ring, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Hom).  

Described by Bilbo Baggins (Ian Hom) in the narration of his auto-biography, The Shire is a place of "peace and quiet and good, tilled earth".  To capture these happy little hills, we use fresh white grapes two ways, frozen  and placed in the Collins glass in place of ice and for its look and texture and fresh, pressed grape juice from the same bunch of grapes.  For a fresh, earthy drink, we mixed the grape juice with Scotch for its earthy peatiness, Boomsma Cloosterbitter for its subtly sweet, grassy, herbal bitterness, Lillet Blanc to brighten the flavors and a couple of dashes of rhubarb bitters to give it that fresh Middle Earth flavor that a Hobbit who enjoys "the brewing of ales and the smoking of pipe weed" would make.  Like Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), once you finish your drink, you can have a second breakfast of the delicious, juicy and bursting with flavor grapes because a Hobbit's only real passion is for food!  The Hobbits will need it, after the party Gandalf convinces Bilbo to leave the ring that has now plagued Bilbo's mind and has asked Frodo (Elijah Wood, Kiran Shah) along with Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) to take the ring across Middle Earth to Mount Doom. 

All for one ring, The One Ring, The Ring to Rule Them All, My Precious.  This cocktail needed to meet some very specific requirements.  It must taste like it was forged by the Dark Lord in the fires of Mount Doom; also named, Isildur's Bane, it must be made to be completely irresistible to humans and ultimately lead to their doom; and it must make the wearer/drinker feel invisible and powerful.  Enter Tequila.  We shake tequila with some hot honey syrup to spice and sweeten it, lemon juice to balance,  Angostura Bitters for depth of flavor and a little bit of aquafaba to give the cocktail a textural weight, because "Heavy is the hand that wears it".  To give this gold-colored cocktail a spicy sparkle, serve it in a coupe with a rim adorned with demerara sugar, salt and cayenne.  Like Gollum, "Bless us and splash us, My Preciousssss!"   

"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." Is what the ring reads, containing the spirit of Lord Sauron, the ring calls to the other rings and their bearers, most fearfully the Nazgul- undead kings of men who were given Rings of Power from Sauron and now are mercenary slaves to The One Ring.  Surely, the perils of this mission require more muscle, stealth and with than a Hobbit is known for, so in Elf kingdom Rivendell, Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin are joined by the Elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), a Dwarf Gimli (John Rys-Davies), and humans Boromir of Gondor (Sean Bean) and Strider (Viggo Mortensen) forming The Fellowship of The Ring.  They continue on from Rivendell and through some misadventures, battles and confrontations within the Fellowship, Frodo decides that he must travel to Mordor alone.  He is never alone, because The Ring also calls for its previous owner, Gollum (Andy Serkis) who insists, "It is mine, I tell you.  My own.  My Precious."