Mixology Monday
The theme for January’s Mixology Monday CV was Brace Yourself: to create a cocktail that will fortify the will against that moment just before you step out into the cold. Yes, I live in San Antonio where people bundle up because it’s 54 degrees. However, I grew up in the frozen North, so I know cold. Besides, we have winter in San Antonio. It lasts for a week or two, but not all at once. Usually a half day at a time!
Ok. Enough of that. The thing I love about Mixology Monday is the creativity. Keeping up with this crowd is a challenge unto itself! Every month I am pushed to make a cocktail that not only fits the theme, but is a great drink on it’s own. This month is no different. The contributions are, once again awesome! There are cold and hot drinks, smokey scotch, spice, herbs, tea, coffee and stout. So here are 14 cocktails sure to warm your cockles, (whatever those are).
First up, Katie at garnishblog brings us the Blood and Smoke. Since she is from Boston, where we know it’s not 75 degrees today, we can be pretty sure that Katie knows cold! She “combined the bright taste of blood orange with the spicy and smoky flavors of rye whiskey and Scotch.” Rye whiskey, blood orange juice, Angostura and a Scotch rinse: I think I might blow off the cold and sit down to have another!
Second in, Andrea who blogs from Denmark at ginhound, gives us a rif on the Last Word with the Clementina Caliente. She shakes up Ilegal Joven mezcal with yellow Chartreuse, Ancho Reyes chile liqueur and fresh squeezed clementine juice. This should help prior to scraping your windshield at -15C!
Next, our German Mixologist, Pete Barmeister of Meticulousmixing brings us a recipe for homemade Rosemary Bärenfang, a honey liqueur. He then combines the clove, vanilla, cinnamon and rosemary flavors of the Bärenfang with hot water and Tatratea, a tea liqueur, to create the Carpathian Honey. Pete further encourages us to combine the Bärenfang with a German-style Pilsner for a “Lazy Man’s Braggot.” The Bärenfang I need to try, but I’m not sure it will be enough to make me want to hunt bears in winter!
Stacy Markow, our Dallas sommelier, brings us Coffee Milk Punch. She combines a cold brew coffee simple syrup with Rye whiskey, whole milk and pecan bitters. This should make Dallas’ next ice storm a little more tolerable!
Next, Craig joins in with the Winter Cap.* For this cocktail, Craig warms up Bonal with 151 proof rum then rounds it out with Calvados and the herbal Becherovka. I’m always fond of amari and quin quina drinks, and this one sounds fascinating with the addition of the apple flavors of cider and Calvados.
*Depending on your browser, you may need to scroll up or down to find the post. Just look for the Mixology Monday logo!
Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin Slut, Mixology Monday’s fearless leader and world famous cat herder, weighs in with Hot Tiger’s Milk. Since he too hails from Boston, a certain level of experience with the bitter cold can be assumed! His approach is to distract yourself and bring Don the Beachcomber to the rescue. This 1937 hot Tiki drink combines the flavors of rum, coconut, cloves and butter. As Frederic says, “The Hot Tiger’s Milk greeted the nose with a butter and honey-floral aroma. The rum’s caramel danced with the honey on the sip, and the swallow roared with rum, orange, and clove notes. The flavors, especially the orange and clove, built over time as they steeped into the Toddy.” Just might cause one to forget where they are and try stepping out in surf shorts and sandals!
Joel DiPippa,of Southernnash, Mixology Monday’s resident Arkansas gentleman and scholar, brings us an Irish Coffee run a muck with his Hoar Frost’s Fall. The fact that Joel can pull 100 proof bourbon, allspice dram and Becherovka out of his cabinet in the middle of a snow storm speaks to his mixologist bonafides. Then, in true scholarly fashion, he creates the recipe while pondering shoveling the snow! This hot coffee cocktail will definitely make snow shoveling a little less painful.
The Le Restaurateur No. 2, brought to us by Ian of Tempered Spirits, is another cocktail with 151 proof demerara rum and Calvados, but this time with yellow Chartreuse and the spices of Angostura and 18-21 Black Currant-Cocoa Bitters. This cocktail has the flavors of baked apple pie with a little funky rum notes thrown in. I agree with Ian that the 18-21 Black Currant-Cocoa Bitters can be hard to find, but they are worth the search!
Boozenerds, Seattleites Shaun and Christa, bring us the Corbie. This is an oatmeal stout based cocktail with the spice of rye whiskey, the complexity of amaro and the sweetness of maple syrup. I’m not sure if the name “Corbie” is supposed to evoke thoughts of Northern France or of ravens but the cocktail sounds delicious and is now on my things to make list!
I have always enjoyed Sazaracs, but a Sazerac Hot Chocolate? Brilliant! Dagreb at Nil Utopia creates an amazing cocktail by substituting a Sazarac for the milk in a hot chocolate and makes an absinthe whipped cream for the top! Gunner, our Chesapeake Bay Retriever, will appreciate me having one of these, since I’ll probably decide to stay inside and have another thus enabling him to lie by my chair in front of the fire. Which is where he’d rather be!
Thiago Ceccotti, our Brazilian mixologist who writes at Bartending Notes, gives us a recipe for Quentão. “Quentão (literally means:Very Hot) is a cachaça based Hot Toddy-style beverage which also resembles a cachaça based Mulled Wine.” Made with ginger tea, cachaça, vermouth, vanilla liquor, lime juice and Angostura, it sounds like there is a good reason it is popular in Brazil!
Adam, aka Mr Muddle, joins Mixology Monday for the first time with his 32 Degrees. Another Bostonian, he seems to be well schooled. not only on cold weather, but in cocktails, (check out his blog). As Adam points out, this drink is a Scaffa, which is not technically a cocktail, but a mixture of alcoholic components, mixed in a glass and served unchilled, without ice. The 32 Degrees, made with Dark Rum, Amaro Montenegro, Aquavit and an Absinthe rinse will decidedly “steel the will!”
Next in was Robin of the Kitchen Shamanism Blog. Don’t believe Robin when he says he mixes cocktails with “low knowledge!” He presents us this month with another interesting drink, the Sjörök. Smokey Islay Scotch, sweet Cherry Heering, dark muscovado sugar syrup, Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters and hot Lapsang Souchong tea. I may not be able to pronounce “Sjörök,” but this smokey cocktail looks like it will keep you warm and smiling!
Well, there are 13 cocktails that should help get you through the winter. Lastly, our contribution this month is two shots: Into the Wind and Frost Buster. Both are made with barrel aged Fireball Whiskey! Why, you might ask, would we do that to a barrel? Well, click here to read and find out!
PS: Marius Iordache who blogs at Arcane Potions and attends the Citadel, comes in with a late contribution: a delicious looking Mulled Wine. That should keep you warm on a 0600 march, but then again, I’m pretty certain that drinking is worth at least 150 demerits!
We really have enjoyed hosting this month’s Mixology Monday. Thanks, as always, to Frederik for keeping this most excellent online cocktail party on track and for allowing us to host.
So, until next month,
Cheers!
Thanks for including my contribution in the roundup. I maybe should’ve been clearer in my Winter Cap description: apple cider was a kind of conceptual foundation (the Bonal brings it to mind for me), but there’s no actual cider in my drink!
Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve corrected it, however, I’m having some strange server issue. Hopefully, the corrected version will continue to show. Thanks for contributing.