"A powerful weapon that is difficult to deflect." - Description of the Three Wishes keyblade from Kingdom Hearts

Inspiration

Sora gains the Three Wishes keyblade after sealing the keyhole in Agrabah, the world of Aladdin in Kingdom Hearts. This keyblade’s got a beautiful golden sheen to it and it sports as its keychain the iconic genie’s lamp. Whenever I think of Disney’s Aladdin I’m always fascinated by the Cave of Wonders! Gold mountains as far as the eyes can see, but be careful what you wish for. I wanted to capture the golden look of this drink and pay homage to the number three. My favorite three-ingredient cocktail is a Negroni, so for my three wishes, I’ve chosen three ingredients: glowing turmeric-infused gin, bitter and yellow Suze, and a new liqueur at the XBar: Galliano (the G in Galliano stands for ‘genie’, obviously).

Workshopping

Turmeric Gin

I love learning about techniques that allow mixologists to better capture the essence of ingredients in liquid form. None have come close, at least in my travels, to inspiring as much as Liquid Intelligence by Dave Arnold. I didn’t hear about using a whipped cream maker to infuse spirits from the book, but Liquid Intelligence gave me a more methodical way of going about using the technique. I used Dave Arnold's turmeric-infused gin recipe for this cocktail, which goes something like this. For every 100 g of thin-cut turmeric root (I didn’t peel mine), add 500 ml of Plymouth gin to a whipped cream maker or iSi whipper. Pressurize the whipper with two nitrous oxide charges, and let infuse for 2.5 minutes. Depressurize and allow the bubbling to subside before bottling.

The color of this is absolutely astounding! Dave says that it practically glows, and my reaction was quite similar when I infused this for the first time. I’ve got a navel orange sitting next to the fresh infusion right now (picture reference), and some spots on the orange’s skin almost perfectly match the spirit’s color.

The turmeric infusion is naturally a different color than the original Plymouth gin. The smell on the infusion is less potent and a bit grassier. Overall, where I was getting a sweeter citrus impression from the original gin, the infusion took things in a direction more like a pine tree, needles and branches included. I really enjoy how the aftertaste is almost like I was chewing on some spearmint gum about an hour and a half ago.

The other 2 wishes

Wtih one wish down, I needed two more. Naturally, I could use one of my wishes to just summon a turmeric negroni. No no no. I must commit to the bit. Other negroni recipes, such as the white negroni use Suze, a gentian liqueur to add that bitterness so eponymous of negroni recipes.

I also hadn’t had Galliano behind my XBar before, but after overhearing about a combination that could taste like candy corn for another Kingdom Hearts drink (shoutout to the Pumpkinhead keyblade cocktail) I had it available. My first impression was like I had eaten a slightly licorice-y mint gum. Hmmm, I thought, I wonder if that’ll go well with the turmeric gin that I infused minutes earlier. Well, I thought my last wish was going to be a 3rd ingredient, but based on a technicality of the Suze already being at my bar, I’m gonna say this last ingredient is my 2nd wish. This saves my final wish to be how to ratio all three ingredients together for a decent drink.

Genie, I wish for a Ratio

I tried equal parts of the Galliano liqueur, Suze, and turmeric-infused Plymouth gin, but it just wasn’t cutting it. I could no longer taste the characteristic rootedness of the infused gin, and the sweetness from the Suze was overpowering the bitterness now with the added Galliano. If only this ratio came as a final wish. Nah, I just made a few ratios and picked the one that tasted the best. I knew that I’d need the most of the infused gin, then it was a toss-up between which liqueur would take second place.

• 1.5 turmeric-gin , 0.75 Galliano, 0.75 Suze - turmeric dryness, light bitterness, rather floral, bittersweet, but lacking that something

• 1.5 turmeric-gin, 1 Galliano, 0.5 Suze - sweeter, turmeric still appreciable, noticeably mintier, bitterness at the end subtle, sweet upfront

• 1.5 turmeric-gin, 0.5 Galliano , 1 Suze - not sweet enough, bitterness appreciable, turmeric(?), very rooty, mint subtle

Ultimately, I went with the 3:2:1 ratio of infused gin, to Galliano, to Suze. My personal taste most appreciates a forward note of sweetness, followed by a floral evolution and a rooty and bitter aftertaste. Option 1 was fine, but there was something about the way the Galliano and Suze just didn’t play in a way that I appreciated. Option 3 was just too bitter to appreciate all of the ingredients easily.

Afterthoughts

If there’s one thing I’m kind of yearning for here is something even more prominently turmeric. I loved the way the infusion hit me on its own, and I wanted that same punch here. The beauty of the quick infusion here is that I can just make another turmeric-infused gin adjusting the ratio of turmeric to gin, or try and increase the time under pressure. One thing to note about infusions that go on too long, is there is a possibility of extracting so-called “harmful” flavors. Big grain of salt here, because preferences are the ultimate judge. Longer infusions tend to introduce more bitter notes. Some like it that way. I know I do.

Embellishments

The Three Wishes keyblade has these sort of blue embellished handles towards the hilt that I really wanted to portray in the final drink. At first, I attempted to cheat some blue sugar by adding blue food dye to 2:1 simple syrup and dehydrating it. It took forever to crystalize and the process trapped some liquid sugar within individual crystals. This might be cool for other applications, but it made adhering the sugar to the glass much too sticky and the granules much too large. If you don’t have pre-bought blue sugar, just take food dye (or your favorite colored liquid) and add it directly to table sugar. Smushing things around a bit should keep the granule size small enough. I used a bit of lemon super juice painted on the glass to act as an adhesive as I sifted the blue sugar overtop to create the handle embellishment in the photo.

Flavor Analysis

A light sweetness gives way to a floral and rooted spice. The end palate is like you’ve chewed a bit of spearmint gum, and perhaps a pine needle too.