"All Hail Shadow, heroes rise again" - All Hail Shadow by Crush 40

Inspiration

Sonic’s rival and self-proclaimed “Ultimate Lifeform”, Shadow the Hedgehog, manifested as a dark mocktail with potently unique flavors. Originally inspired by his branded G-Fuel energy formula, Shadow the Highball was transformed into something greater by the time-consuming process of cocktail recipe experimentation. Let’s just say it took 50 years and a government conspiracy. What resulted is a mocktail combining the effervescence of Chaos (or rather Coca) Cola, vegetal and bright red bell pepper, and a smoky non-alcoholic tequila alternative. Oh, did I mention the use of maraschino cherry syrup? Why the specificity? Well, because Shadow’s got a soft spot for “Maria”-schino cherries. RIP

Workshopping

Faker?

No, nooo, the mocktail isn’t a “fake cocktail!” It’s also not an android made in Shadow’s likeness. It’s called a mocktail because it mimics and mocks the alcoholic version! There, does that explanation sound a bit more anti-hero-y? This version of Shadow the Highball closely resembles the cocktail’s structure. I was so taken by the original flavor combo that I did the very thing I normally discourage when making mocktails: I pursued a straight-up 1:1 substitution.

To put it more explicitly, I’ve seen a lot of mocktail recipes that give simple advice: “Swap your rum for a non-alcoholic rum alternative and keep the rest the same”. I’m certainly not as well-versed in the realm of non-alcoholic spirits yet, but in my experience, non-alcoholic spirits don’t truly replace the alcohol; they imitate and sometimes exaggerate parts of it. In the past, I’ve sampled non-alcoholic spirits that replace the boozy bite or burn with the spiciness of something else, like ginger or chili peppers. These spirits by no means make a bad mocktail, but they knock a drink out of balance. The alcoholic recipe was made with alcohol in mind, and the mocktail recipes should be explicitly designed without alcohol in mind. At the end of the day, if it’s your glass, do whatever floats your ARK (I’m not your dad, and neither is Gerald Robotnik or Black Doom!) That being said, if you’re trying to go for a true flavor match or a balanced mocktail, you’ll likely want to adjust ratios or swap other ingredients to compensate. Rant over.

For Shadow’s mocktail, I tried swapping out alcoholic tequila with non-alcoholic tequila and swapping out cherry liqueur with cherry syrup. I’ve yet to do a 1:1 sub out for a mocktail recipe yet, so I figured I’d give it a try for Shadow. From one perspective, I could spin it up as Shadow riding the line between hero and dark, a sort of gray area for the notorious hedgehog. I’m a bit more practical when it comes to drink recipes, though, so my main reason here is that tequila is a unique enough spirit that I’m just not convinced that you can just swap it out. For the sake of incremental learning, I gave it a shot!

Pathetic Demo Drinks

Before I got my hands on a bottle of Ritual’s non-alcoholic tequila, I made an early version of the mocktail that simply removed the alcohol without replacing it. I figured I’d try replicating some of the flavor notes of tequila using other ingredients. Since tequila is made from blue weber agave, I considered using agave nectar, but the drink was already syrup-heavy. Instead, I used a vanilla demerara syrup left over from earlier cocktail testing, hoping it would stand in for the vanilla and oak notes of aged tequila. I combined 0.5 oz vanilla demerara syrup, 0.5 oz Luxardo maraschino cherry syrup, 1 oz Coca-Cola, and 1 oz red bell pepper juice. The result? A sweet bell pepper cola with the faintest hint of cherry. Not what I was after. Adding lemon juice did help brighten things, but it made the drink feel more “fruity” than “edgy”. Not quite fitting for the Ultimate Lifeform.

With that in mind, I finally brought in the non-alcoholic tequila and did a full 1-to-1 swap: tequila alt for reposado, and grenadine (real pomegranate stuff!) for the cherry liqueur. The result was intriguing! The flavor was reminiscent of a cherry bubblegum, but tart from the grenadine, and a spicy, smoky edge thanks to the tequila alternative. Oddly enough, at this point, I realized that the subtle smoke and spice from the tequila alternative was not present in the cocktail! Shadow’s mocktail was coming into his own, but still, the balance was off.

The piece I really appreciated was the smokiness of the tequila alternative. On its own, the tequila alternative is a bit sweet and slightly oily, but it brings a texture to the mocktail that the cocktail version lacked. The peppery spice also shifted the bell pepper profile more toward chile pepper territory. So I made a final revision: I swapped grenadine back for Luxardo cherry syrup and increased the tequila alternative. That did it. The smoky spice, cola effervescence, and vegetal cherry profile all fell into place. Maybe what I was really missing was that maria-schino cherry syrup to bring Shadow together. Yes, I am proud of myself for that one.

Bell Pepper Skin Garnish

To represent Shadow’s iconic red quill highlights, I opted to take the skin of a red bell pepper and adhere it to the sides of a tall glass. Not only do the skins provide a nice contrast with the dark drink behind them, but they also give a hint to the drinker that red peppers were used as one of the ingredients in the drink. To create the garnish as pictured, I’d recommend the following steps:

• Turn a red bell pepper on its side and slice it like you would a citrus wheel. The cross section’s center should contain pieces of the core, and perhaps some seeds.

• Discard the seeded core and slice into one side of the cross-section such that you can extend the bell pepper slice in a straight line.

• Flip the long slice such that the outer skin of the bell pepper faces upward.

• Carefully carve the skin of the pepper off of the juicy flesh beneath. You should be left with a thick fleshy line of red bell pepper flesh (this is edible, and you deserve a snack) and the thin skin of the pepper in the form of a long, thin rectangle.

• Take the flesh side of the pepper skin and place it on the side of your serving glass (it should be a little bit sticky from the residual juice of the carving process).

• Chances are, your glass isn’t as tall as the length of skin you cut, take some scissors and snip off the top of it, you can continue cutting the skin into smaller pieces to add additional “highlights” to the glass.

Alcoholic Version

Shadow the Highball, the Cocktail, is very similar to the mocktail. It swaps the non-alcoholic tequila for an aged reposado and replaces the cherry syrup with Cherry Heering, a deep, dark cherry-flavored liqueur. Beyond the alcohol, there are a few other differences. The ratios are adjusted, since alcoholic spirits act differently in recipes than their non-alcoholic counterparts. The tequila alternative exaggerates the core notes of real tequila. While an aged reposado has a subtle smoky note from roasted agave, the non-alcoholic version pushes that smokiness via natural flavors, and adds a spicy green pepper heat in place of alcohol’s burn.

Flavor Analysis

A vegetal cherry cola flavor with light notes of molasses. Ends with a smokiness and mild spice reminiscent of a dried chili pepper.