Remember Schoolhouse Rock? This drink is an absolute melting pot. A couple of things that pair naturally plus a couple that shouldn’t work at all but it comes together to make something unexpected and great; just like in Lady Liberty’s recipe. Won’t you join me now as we stand and make the Artichoke Hold. 

If you haven’t seen any Schoolhouse Rock in a while, it may be time to dust them off and rewatch, especially the America Rock series. You can start with the Great American Melting Pot, it’s all about being a nation of immigrants brought together by hope, the idea that we are stronger for our diversity, it’s heady stuff. We grew up on these ideals. I don’t mean our generation, I mean our nation, that shining city on a hill, where anyone can achieve the American Dream and where all are deserving of that promise of liberty. Doesn’t seem like an idea that would be easy to forget or discard. After all, we declared, “No More Kings“, quite some time ago. Yet here we are fighting for unity as many of our leaders focus on division; on pitting an undefined us against a nebulous them, just so they can win a few more votes. I hope that we can rise to the occasion and remember the true greatness of our country, its diversity and freedom of thought, speech and religion. Of course this means we are also free from those things, at least from government mandated approved thoughts, speech and religion. Freedom from is every bit as important as freedom of. You can’t have one without the other and those things are worth fighting for. We can never let anyone get a choke hold on our freedoms, but we can make an Artichoke Hold to drink tonight. How’s that for a forced segue?

Grab your tins and pop in 3/4 of an ounce of Jamaican rum, I went with Smith + Cross; 3/4 of an ounce of Cynar, a lovely, bitter Italian amaro made with artichoke leaves; 1/2 an ounce of St. Germain elderflower liqueur; 3/4 of an ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice and 1/2 an ounce of orgeat. Add ice and shake well to the beat of “Three Ring Government“ cause you might as learn a little while you drink. When your tins are good and cold strain into something nice over some pebble ice, Sonic will be happy to provide this for a modest amount of change. Garnish with an artichoke heart that you carefully peeled and prepped before realizing that it is not really as pretty as you’d imagined, but since you are pot committed to this garnish, having spent $1.50 for a head of artichoke, just go with it, despite your instincts that something here is not right. It’s totally cool to do this with an inconsequential beverage, do not do this with your vote, freedom, personal liberty, etc. 

All seriousness aside, this drink rocks. It’s like a tiki drink with this weird but wonderful bitter backside. The rum and orgeat totally scream tiki and the cynar gives it this wonderful bitter but not too bitter base and there in the midst of it all is this floral topnote from the St. Germain riding on the citrus brightness. This drink should not work as well as it does. Many of the elements would totally clash, head to head, but when you put them all together they accentuate each other, their differences making a harmony that none could achieve on their own. 

That how this whole melting pot thing works. Take all the parts and mix them up to achieve a whole greater than the sum. It is kinda hard to pick and choose, cause you need some of the things you may not love. Kinda like this drink, it is lovely, the garnish, not so much, but we are gonna take the good with the bad, cause the total package is worth drinking and fighting for. Y’all stay safe, stay hydrated and stay sane, my friends.