Spirited Spirits: The Dirty Shirley

Shirley Temples have been making a resurgence lately across social media and throughout restaurant spaces. This classic combination of ginger ale and grenadine has been a child’s favorite for decades now due to it’s generous sugar content, although many adults still enjoy them for it’s rich combination of fruitiness and spices. Beyond that, Dirty Shirley’s offer a beautiful way for people new to alcoholic beverages to enjoy the taste of alcohol within a drink that they are intimately familiar with. This is definitely an example of a drink that echoes back the love and care that goes into it: although serviceable with standard ginger ale and the grenadine available in the super market, it becomes something truly special if you take the time to make it from scratch. With that being said, let’s break down the Shirley temple, take a look it’s intentions, and see how we can ramp it up to fit our needs a little bit better.

The Basic Ingredients

• Ginger: This fiery root adds a big kick of energy to any working it’s a part of, whether it’s energizing the other ingredients or the people consuming it. I tend to associate it as an igniter, getting everything else to the point they can burn brightly on their own. Ginger also has numerous health benefits, aiding in digestion while also having anti inflammatory properties and numerous anti oxidants. It also aids heavily in workings for abundance, prosperity, and success.

• Pomegranate: These have been considered a sacred fruit across numerous cultures, ranging from Buddhist myths to the Greek associations with Persephone and the underworld. These intentions range everywhere from beauty and fertility to luck, abundance, health, and wealth. For me personally, I generally use pomegranate as a symbol for abundance. The large number of seeds, the feeling of constantly finding more as you’re breaking into it, and the fact that they are generally one of the last fruits harvested for the year aid into that intention for me.

As it stands, the Shirley Temple combines a large number of abundance and health intentions. Combining the energizing boost from ginger with that late harvest energy from the pomegranate creates a feeling of preparing for the future and starting the process for long term success. When looking at the long term, there’s a lot more to it than just the belief that things will work at in the end: it’s the courage to get started, it’s the energy and will power to keep going, and it’s about maintaining your health and wellbeing through all of this. With that in mind, let’s look at some thing that will boost that specific set of intentions.

The Extra Ingredients

• Mace: Akin to nutmeg, and from the same plant, this spice has a delightfully warming sensation and rich flavor. It’s brighter than it’s counterpart, with a sharper flavor and a slightly peppery note to it. Intentionally, Mace is often associated with luck and money from being part of the spice trade for so long. It is great for drawing positive energy towards you as well, and can give you a little extra luck to help things break your way when you need it.

• Lemon: The all around cleanser, lemon is truly one of the best things to help remove negative energies, thoughts, and emotions. When beginning new projects, or whenever your looking towards the future at all, it’s extremely easy to hold onto negative thoughts and habits as you move into it. These can make you feel run down or feel like that it will never work right off the bat, and that’s no way to work towards a better future.

• Oak Chips: This hard wood has been a symbol of stability, power, and longevity dating back to the ancient Celts and Greeks. The trees are long lived, reaching up to 200 years old, and items made from oak wood tend to extremely long lasting. Barrels especially are generally made from oak, both for it’s flavor that it imparts as well as it’s ability to hold up for years on end. When we’re looking at adding the ability to stay the course, to not give up under pressure, there’s nothing better to do than to infuse a little bit of oak into our work.

• Rum: It’s not a Dirty Shirley without a bit of liquor, is it? Although any liquor would work for this, rum being a sugar cane spirit carries forward the idea of sweetening intentions. As much as insuring success and planning for the future is about hard work and perseverance, it’s just as much about enjoying the journey. When we neglect ourselves in the moment, it puts that much more pressure on us and wears down our mental health. It’s not that we want to avoid the hard work here; we just want the hard work to be satisfying and enjoyable.

When would I make this?

This drink, especially with the extra ingredients we’ve added to it, is great any time you’re on the verge of starting something new with the hope of long term rewards and success. Examples could include starting a new career or heading to a job interview, but could include beginning a new relationship, starting a new degree, or even when starting repairs and renovations. It’s important to note that this is not for short term goals; although ginger will provide a kick start, these are all slow moving and long term oriented intentions and ingredients we’ve selected today.

With that being said, let us know what new projects you all have started or are starting soon! This time of year is great not only for reflection on the previous year, but to look forward and plan out our goals for the future!

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Author: Matthew Johnson

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The Dirty Shirley

We put our spin on an adult take of the classic children's favorite drink, the Shirley Temple. Our version features a homemade oaked pomegranate and ginger syrup, which promotes health, strength, wishes and happiness to make you feel like a kid again!

Prep time: 2 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 12 Min

Ingredients

Oaked Pomegranate Ginger Syrup

• 16 oz. light brown sugar (sweet outlook towards life)
• 1 oz. mace blades (luck, love)
• 1 oz. fresh ginger, grated (health, abundance)
• 16 oz. pomegranate juice (wishes, wealth, luck)
• 4 oz. lemon juice (clarity, happiness)
• 2 oz. sanitized oak chips (strength, power) *see note

The Dirty Shirley

• 1 1/2 to 2 oz. Oaked Pomegranate Syrup
• 1 1/2 oz. Rum, or liquor of your choice
• 4 oz. Club soda
• Ice
• Maraschino cherries, to garnish

Instructions

To make the syrup

1. Place the brown sugar, mace, and fresh grated ginger in a sauce pan over medium high heat and stir until combined.
2. Let the mixture heat until the sugar begins to slightly melt, being careful to stir to avoid burning.
3. Once heated, add the pomegranate and lemon juices and the oak chips, stirring to combine them with the sugar mixture.
4. Allow the syrup to come to a boil and then remove from the heat and let cool.
5. Once cooled, strain and store in a lidded container, such as a mason jar. This will keep in your refrigerator for up to a month if carefully stored.

To assemble the drink

1. In a tall glass, pour together the syrup and your spirit of choice.
2. Top with club soda and ice.
3. Garnish with maraschino cherries and enjoy!

Notes

• Oak chips that are suitable for food and drink use can be found at your local beer and wine supply store or at online retailers. To sanitize them, boil them in water and let them soak for 20 minutes, then strain.

• This drink can be made without any alcohol for a lovely and refreshing alternative soda for everyone!