By Yekta Aarabi

Feeling in the dumps? Who could blame you? After a summer of sun and fun the onset of fall is an anticlimactically slow slide into the nine-month drizzle that darkens life in the Pacific Northwest.

Fortunately, Erik Liedholm, the wine director for John Howie Steak, has his own solution to chase away the blues.

Appropriately named The Panacea, this cocktail uses a base of gin from Howie and Liedholm’s Wildwood Spirits Company, combining it with  Campari, vermouth and other liquers to create a flavor that is subtly sweet, without overpowering the natural flavor of the gin.

Wildwood Spirits Company blends the ‘farm to table’ and ‘vineyard to bottle’ concept using fruit and grains from local farms. Ninety percent of those produced are used for distilling their spirits. The winter wheat, Braeburn apples, and Douglas fir, is all grown here in Washington State.

Liedholm’s Kur Gin, (kur is, incidentally, the Swedish word for “cure”) is not only produced in Washington but is also filled with an array of sweet green herbs and elaborate spices.

With the London Dry style double bubble shot glass, also known as a quaffer, fills the mouth with the flavors of juniper aromas, subtle citrus, Douglass Fir and Braeburn apples from Liedholm’s back yard.

The Panacea

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce Wildwood Spirits Co. Kur Gin
• .7 ounce (about 4 teaspoons) Campari
• .7 ounce (about 4 teaspoons) Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
• .375 ounce (about 2 ¼ teaspoons) Yellow Chartreuse
• .375 ounce (about 2 ¼ teaspoons) Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• .375 ounce (about 2 ¼ teaspoons) lime juice
• 1 orange peel as garnish

Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and fine strain into a coupe glass.

Twist a slice of orange peel over the drink to express its oils then discard.

Serve in a cocktail glass and enjoy.

This article originally appeared in the October issue of The Eastside Scene. Read the online Green Edition here.