Christchurch-based mixologist Meredith Earle was the deserved South Island winner of Roots Dry Gin’s recent Show Us Your Roots cocktail competition for her deliciously captivating cocktail Rōhi – juicy, sweet, salty, complex, compelling, with a hint of peppery warmth and a hit of rose. Here she shares the secret recipe along with the inspiration behind her winning drink.
INGREDIENTS
Mere’s rose cordial
Horopito/salt solution
METHOD
Rōhi means Rose in Te Reo Māori – a name passed down from my nana, Alice Rosie Williams nee Te Atawhai Hema to my mother, Joanne Rose Earle.
My homemade ‘Mere’s rose cordial’ is inspired by them – these two women are my roots and have made me the woman I am today.
I’m incredibly proud to have made this drink in honour of both of them, especially my mother, who passed away from her battle with pulmonary artery hypertension on July 14 last year.
The salt reminds me of the Clevedon oyster farm on the way to Kawakawa Bay, just after our family Mataitai urupā where I feel at home, while the horopito represents my Māori heritage roots, as Māori would use it for medicinal purposes.