Dylan Riches

Combine all ingredients except the fog and honeycomb in a mixing tin and stir over ice for 20 seconds. Strain the mixture into a carafe lined with beeswax and put it in the fridge for 48 hours. Once that time has elapsed, take the carafe out of the fridge.

Assemble the “meadow tray” by taking a deep bamboo tray and filling it with dry ice pellets (use insulated gloves and goggles when handling the dry ice). Place your grass mat and moss on top and put your Jujube wood cup in the center.

Heat the “fresh cut grass hydrosol” with a kettle to boiling and pour it underneath the grass mat; as the hot hydrosol sublimates the dry ice, you will get a curtain of fog that smells like fresh cut grass pouring out around the edges and up through the perforated holes in the grass mat.

Take your cocktail carafe and pour it into the cup, then garnish with a piece of honeycomb on a cocktail pick. Take a deep breath, smell the air, enjoy a sip, take a moment to pause, and enjoy the fruits of your labor in this serene moment.

Elderflower wine:

700 g fresh elderflower
3500 ml water
875 g white sugar
10 g EC-1118 yeast (champagne yeast)
1 g yeast nutrient

Place the elderflower in a large bin with water and press down on it to make sure as much is submerged as possible. Place in the fridge for 2.5 weeks. Strain off the elderflower (keep it for later).

Take your elderflower-infused water and add the sugar, yeast, and yeast nutrient. Mix well. Pour a sample of the mixture into a graduated cylinder and, using a wine hydrometer, measure the starting gravity. Pour the sample back into the batch in a fermentation jar, seal, and top with a water lock.

Let the mixture sit on a counter for approximately 2 weeks, until the bubbling has stopped. Unseal your jar and use a siphon to take the clear wine out of the jar (leaving the wine at the bottom with the yeast to help start your next fermentation).

Pour a sample back into the graduated cylinder. Use the hydrometer to measure the final gravity. The final ABV should be approximately 11%. Store in the fridge in a covered container.

Pyrolyzed blackberry hay honey:

500 g blackberry honey (honey sourced from bees collecting and converting nectar solely from blackberry flowers)
250 ml water (filtered)
7.5 g hay

Combine the blackberry honey and water in a pot and heat on medium, stirring consistently to mix. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a vacuum-sealed bag, combine the honey syrup and hay. When sealing, remove all or as much oxygen as possible. Place the bag in a proofing oven set to 50 degrees Celsius. Leave in the proofing oven for 4 weeks.

Once 4 weeks have elapsed, remove the bag, open it, and strain off the hay. Store in a covered container in the fridge.

Dandelion & Elderflower bitters:

20 g elderflowers (taken from making the elderflower wine)
8 g dandelion root
8 g birch bark
4 g dandelion leaves (dried)
150 ml vodka (Belvedere preferred)

Combine all ingredients in an airtight container and place in the fridge for 3 weeks. Strain the solids from the vodka and keep it in a dropper bottle.

Fresh cut grass hydrosol (for fog):

500 g fresh cut grass
1000 ml filtered water
5 ml natural fruit and veggie soaking concentrate (to clean the grass)

Take a pair of shears and cut tall grass from a field or meadow (do not use a lawnmower or any gas-powered tools to do this). Place it into a bowl with cold water and the fruit & veggie soaking concentrate, then swirl around to clean. Remove the grass from the bowl and rinse thoroughly.

Take the grass and combine it in a blender with 1000 ml of filtered water. Blend on high for 15 seconds. Strain off the grass solids, then take your grass liquid and place it in a tall pot on the stove.

Turn the stove on low and place a small bowl upside down inside the pot. Place a second bowl right side up on top of the other bowl. The height of both bowls combined should not be higher than ¾ of the height of the pot.

Take a metal mixing bowl large enough to cover the pot opening and place it right side up over the top so that it concaves into the pot. Place as much ice as possible into the bowl.

As the grass liquid starts to evaporate, it will collect on the cold metal bowl and run along the bottom until it drips into the bowl below it. This concentrates the liquid into a hydrosol.

There are two ritual components to this cocktail.

The first is the physical aspect: the hand-carved wooden cup, the chilled stone the drink is served on, the raw honeycomb garnish, and the foggy meadow serving tray—all theatrical elements designed to transport the drinker to a serene summer meadow. The name lays the foundation for this, “Serenété” coming from “serenity” and the French word for summer, “été” [e-t-ay]. All of these aspects align with the purpose of giving the drinker a visceral experience that makes the rest of the world pause for a moment.

The second ritualistic aspect of this cocktail is a more metaphorical one. The world we live in moves faster than ever. We want things on demand, instantly satiating our desires. But in reconnecting with nature, we can see that nothing happens immediately. Time is the one true constant that cannot be hacked or cheated. Even in Hennessy’s youngest product, the VS, we are forced to wait two years for the eau-de-vie to mature properly before it is ready to be enjoyed.

In this practice, there is a meditative virtue in taking the time to properly prepare the ingredients of this cocktail. Nothing can be rushed. We must wait for the elderflower wine to ferment, for the honey to pyrolyze, and for the bitters to soak. Even when the cocktail is assembled, after waiting over a month, it is then rested in beeswax for two days to add texture and flavor and to round off the edges.

The resulting time, effort, and love that go into the preparation translate into an indescribable quality that cannot be replicated through rushed techniques. The reward for patience and dedication is a moment of serenity and bliss as the drink hits your lips.