But it should be – because this week I tucked into a forest inspired drink at Science & Industry and it blew me socks off!
In fact, it’s so good I’d say that it may have moved me away from solely drinking cider and into cocktails. Some could say I’ve ‘branched’ out. Sorry.
The cocktail is called Can’t See Wood Fir Trees and it is a thing of beauty. Sure it doesn’t look like much but the clear liquid hides a complex mixture of flavours the like you’ve never tasted before.
It’s described as ‘A trio of wood-sap liquors, balanced with Americano and in-house bitters‘ and if that doesn’t confuse you then the following will…
Starting off as a kind of forestry Martini, they mix Hepple Douglas Fir Vodka (made using pine needles from the Douglas Fir tree) with Hepple Gin.
They then add a ‘Birch Spirit’ which is made from distilled wild birch sap, and Roots Mastiha – a liqueur made using the resin of Mastic trees from the Greek island of Chios.
Finally, a Cocchi Americano Vermouth is added with some home-made ‘Forestry’ bitters – which I presume contains more leaves, sap, branches, a bit of bush and a half-ripped collection of pornography from 1982.
Mix all of these things together and you’ve got quite possibly the most unique cocktail in Manchester and a taste that is incredibly difficult to describe. It tastes a lot like a dry vodka martini, but with a sweeter, earthier and altogether more refreshing note.
There’s a brief sense of walking through a dense forest on a cold winter morning before it’s down your neck and you’re half-cut. Or maybe there isn’t and I’m just aimlessly trying to describe something that is impossible to do.
My advice? Go and try it. Let me know what you think so I can steal it and look like I know what I’m doing. It’s available every day at Science & Industry (upstairs in Cane & Grain)
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Can’t See Wood Fir Trees (£9.50) at Science & Industry
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Science & Industry, Cane & Grain, 49 -51 Thomas Street, Manchester M4 1NA
0161 839 7033
caneandgrain.co.uk
