Kind of Anesthetic – Engel Szechuan Pepper

We stay a little while longer with the rather interesting Szechuan eau de vie from Manuel Engel. I knew instantly that I had to create a Penicillin variation using it. Then I heard the Villagers’ song ‘Fool’ with the line ‘[…] kind of anaesthetic for the journey’ and I instantly knew how to call the drink, too.

For this eau de vie, Manuel Engel grows his own red Szechuan pepper in his herb garden. He then macerates and distils the berries in his Tyrolian-style still. Finally, Manuel bottles the eau de vie at an ABV of 40 %.

Balmy spices

The Szechuan pepper eau de vie opens with intense notes of mountain pine and menthol, with hints of citrus. On tasting, you can detect peppermint aroma, lemon peel as well as mountain fir. At first, I thought the numbing sensation of the original spice was not apparent, but there certainly is a bit of it. The aftertaste delivers green and peppery notes, as well as an earthy flavour.

Same, same, but different

As I mentioned, I wanted to use the Szechuan pepper eau de vie in a variation of the Penicillin cocktail. However, I also did not want the smoke to overpower the other ingredients. This is why I opted for the Compass Box Synthesis Blended Scotch, which has only a hint of smoke. Instead of ginger honey syrup, I added ginger liqueur and honey syrup.

Initially, the classic Penicillin flavour combination of Scotch, lemon, ginger and honey is clearly present. Yet, the initial hint of peat smoke is missing. Instead, the drink’s spiciness is more pronounced and, at the same time, more complex than when only ginger is used. I did enjoy this whisky sour variation quite a lot.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. I received the eau de vie for free Naturbrennerei Engel.