MURI × ESSE: The Middle

by MURI

Still Red<0.5% ABV

Also known as: The Middle, MURI x ESSE: The Middle

Production Philosophy

MURI × ESSE: The Middle is one of a collaborative series developed with Restaurant ESSE in Copenhagen, produced by MURI, the Copenhagen blendery founded by Murray Paterson and Diego Paniagua. Consistent with MURI's approach, the drink is built as a layered, gastronomic beverage rather than a de-alcoholized product, combining separately prepared components into a single blend. MURI's website frames The Middle as a savory, food-driven drink with the structure to stand alongside dishes normally reserved for tannic wines.[1]

According to MURI, the drink was inspired by Clamato, the Canadian blend of tomato and clam juice, and evolved over months into a layered, gastronomic drink.[1]

Composition & Vinification

MURI's declared ingredient list for The Middle is: water, tomato, koji, lovage, rice, vinegar, mussels, kombu, butter, kefir culture, and salt. Listed allergens are celery, seafood, and dairy.[1]

Ice-Clarified Tomato Water — Savory Base. The drink is built around an ice-clarified tomato water, a clear liquid extracted from tomato that forms the savory foundation of the blend.[1]

Dried Smoked Mussels — Umami and Smoke. The Middle incorporates dried smoked mussels drawn from ESSE's dashi stock. These are spent dried smoked mussels that are leftovers from the dashi stock used at Restaurant ESSE, contributing the drink's smoky, saline umami character.[1]

Koji Amazake — Rice Ferment. A koji amazake is included in the blend, a non-alcoholic ferment produced by growing koji on rice.[1]

Browned Butter and Kombu Fat Wash — Texture. The drink is treated with a browned butter and kombu fat wash, a technique in which fat is added to the blend in liquid form and later strained off, lending rounded texture along with the umami of kombu.[1]

Lovage Kefir — Herbaceous Lift. A vibrant lovage kefir rounds out the composition, a fermented component built on the celery-scented herb lovage that provides herbaceous lift.[1]

Tasting Profile

Palate. MURI describes The Middle as profoundly savory, smoky, saline, and unapologetically complex, with a long umami-driven finish that gives it the structure to stand alongside dishes normally reserved for tannic wines.[1]

Structure. [1]

  • Complexity: described as unapologetically complex
  • Length: long, umami-driven finish