I wasn’t sure I would ever “feature” the Teleport “Ghibli” Box, but recently came across a wonderful cocktail I couldn’t resist, which was too perfect a pairing to pass up as a toast to the Karakuri Group. A few years back, bartender and consultant Stella Miller created a set of eight Studio Ghibli themed cocktails for Chicago’s Michelin Starred restaurant Yugen’s winter menu. The list including a drink inspired by the mysteriously lovable “No Face” from Spirited Away, which is the one I chose. Fans of the movie will recall the oddly silent spirit in black known in Japanese as “kaonashi”, or “faceless”, who mimics and literally absorbs the personalities of those around it in an effort to befriend people and in particular, Chihiro, the story’s protagonist. Everyone seems to worship the gold nuggets of currency in the spirit world, so No Face offers false gold to everyone.

Miller crafted her drink as a riff on the classic Brooklyn cocktail, a pre-prohibition era original variation of the more famous Manhattan. Both the Manhattan and the Bronx cocktails were already well established when the Brooklyn borough of New York was given its own version of a rye whiskey and vermouth drink by Jacob “Jack” Grohusko, head bartender of Baracca’s Restaurant on Wall Street (notably not in Brooklyn). He published the recipe in his book, Jack’s Manual, 1908, where it can be found as a fifty-fifty split of rye and sweet vermouth (note how “wet” the drinks were in that era) with a dash of Maraschino liqueur and a dash of Amer Picon, a bitter orange French spirit no longer available in the US. The recipe has changed over the years, calling for dry vermouth, different proportions, and the loss of Picon.

Miller’s No Face reimagines the drink with dry sherry in place of vermouth, and orange curacao standing in for the Maraschino. To achieve the proper color, she infuses the whiskey with activated charcoal, a common and effective trick to turn a drink black. One last detail from her original cocktail was the use of a gold-leaf covered cherry, to complete the story. “Obviously the pitch black cocktail with the golden cherry was a visual reference to the no face character in spirited away,” she told me. The drink is an excellent whiskey cocktail in the classic style, and will easily spirit you away. Cheers!

No Face by Stella Miller

2oz Black Dewar's*
.75oz Lustau Fino Sherry
.5oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
.25oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir and strain over a large ice cube and garnish with a gold leaf covered Luxardo cherry

*To make black Dewar's combine activated charcoal powder with Dewar's white label until it is opaque (about 2 teaspoons per bottle)

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