Erik Tammeleht

"Urbanization and the loss of jobs in rural areas have become a constantly increasing concern in Estonia. If agricultural products perish due to a lousy summer or a shortage of work in the off-season, then life in the countryside is extremely difficult. Our meadows, fields, and forests are full of natural, flavorful plants that our ancestors picked, dried, and used constantly, but in the grip of urbanization, these old pearls of wisdom have been forgotten, and with them, also the flavors. By bringing back the flavors of the forgotten forest, we're creating a forest flavorscape and allowing Estonian culinary and cocktail culture to develop, bringing new value to our forests and fields and giving work to people whose primary income depends on bountiful summers and seasonality. I have partnered with the wonderful people of Pärnumaa, who collect herbs from our forests and meadows. They know herbs whose taste characteristics are unknown to many and train a new generation of locals who will bring the wisdom of the indigenous people to the masses.

Knowing how busy our bartenders are, I'm here to help our bartenders by making a tincture from plants from the forest flavorscape, that can be used in an easy-to-make cocktail and giving you instructions on how to bring the forgotten flavors into the cocktail culture and make the tincture yourself. We have already added more than 20 bars to the Forest Flavorscape project, which is constantly growing."

Forest Flavorscape

Glass: Flat coupe glass
Garnish: Wildflowers or seasonally changing plants
Use wildflowers or seasonally changing plants from nature and your surroundings to garnish the glass. Flavors of nature change from month to month so does the garnish. Use the mini clothespins to attach the garnish.
Method: Boston Shake
Ice: Regular ice for shaking

Ingredients:
30 ml Ketel One Family-Made Vodka
10 ml Forest Flavorscape mixture
10 ml Lime juice
25 ml Honey syrup

To make Forest Flavorscape mixture:
Rapid infused wild flavors - in 1000 ml metal siphon (gourmet whip) weigh 30g of roasted dandelion root and acorn powder, add 15g of dried scarlet beebalm, and 15g of dried nettles top with 800g of 40% vodka. Charge the siphon with 3 N2O chargers, shake for 30 seconds, and let infuse for 1 hour. To maximize flavor infusion, it's best to release the pressure quickly. Fine strain the flavorscape mixture and store in a dark bottle.