Well, we have chocolate covered peanuts and chocolate covered espresso beans and chocolate covered everything else so why not chocolate covered rum? I made a chocolate simple syrup with coconut nectar and drinking chocolate.  It is really deeply chocolate and very thick.  This cocktail has the flavor of rum and coconut but the dark chocolate predominates.  The spice of the chipotle and bitters keeps the sweetness at bay.

• 1 1/2 oz. Rum
• 1/2 oz Coconut Liqueur
• 1/4 oz. Chocolate Simple Syrup – Recipe here
• 2 pinches chipotle powder
• 1 dash Fees Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and stir with a spoon to dissolve the chocolate syrup
3. Add Ice to the shaker and shake to chill
4. Double strain into chilled glass and serve

Cheers!

Mixology Monday

It’s Mixology Monday, hosted by Garnish Blog, and the theme is chocolate!  I absolutely love it: chocolate and booze are a match made in Heaven!  We have three cocktails to offer this month: the Chocolate Manhattan, the Chocolate Covered Rum and the Chocolate Rum Old Fashioned.

Chocolate Manhattan

I attended a seminar on tequila and chocolate at the San Antonio Cocktail Conference last year.  It was an epiphany!  Which statement is true: “Chocolate goes with everything” or “Alcohol goes with everything?”  Or both?  Anyway, I used Milagro Plata Tequila which blends with the Lillet and chocolate in surprising ways.  The touch of bitterness and complexity of the Lillet Rouge complements the bittersweet Godiva.  This cocktail is not too sweet, but balanced and intriguing.

• 1 1/2 oz. Milagro Plata Tequila
• 3/4 oz. Lillet Rouge
• 1/2 oz. Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill
3. Strain into chilled glass and serve

 Chocolate Covered Rum

Well, we have chocolate covered peanuts and chocolate covered espresso beans and chocolate covered everything else so why not chocolate covered rum? I made a chocolate simple syrup with coconut nectar and drinking chocolate.  It is really deeply chocolate and very thick.  This cocktail has the flavor of rum and coconut but the dark chocolate predominates.  The spice of the chipotle and bitters keeps the sweetness at bay.

• 1 1/2 oz. Rum
• 1/2 oz Coconut Liqueur
• 1/4 oz. Chocolate Simple Syrup – see below
• 2 pinches chipotle powder
• 1 dash Fees Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and stir with a spoon to dissolve the chocolate syrup
3. Add Ice to the shaker and shake to chill
4. Double strain into chilled glass and serve

Chocolate Rum Old Fashioned

I thought that a simple Old Fashioned with aged rum and bittersweet chocolate would work.  It does.

• 1 1/2 oz. Barbancourt 12 yr old Rum
• 1/4 oz. Chocolate Simple Syrup
• Orange peel for garnish

1. Chill an Old Fashioned glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and stir with a spoon to dissolve the chocolate syrup
3. Add Ice to the shaker and shake to chill
4. Double strain into chilled glass, express the orange peel over the glass and serve.

Chocolate Simple Syrup

This is like eating a 97% cacao chocolate bar.  Only a touch sweet.  If it’s too thick, add some hot water.

• 1 oz. Water
• 1 oz. Coconut nectar or sub honey
• 4 tbls. Dagoba Drinking Chocolate mix.  You can substitute another brand but I used 130% of the amount to make 1 cup of drinking chocolate.
• 1 tbls. Sugar or to taste.

1. Heat all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until dissolved
2. Cool slightly before use.
3. If it’s too thick, add some hot water.

Cheers!

Mixology Monday

Well, it’s Mixology Monday and this Month’s theme is “Spring Break.”  Brought to us by the Southern Gentleman himself, Joel DiPippa of the Southern Ash blog, we are challenged to imagine winter is over and turn our thoughts to Spring Break.  I know that Spring Break generally evokes thoughts of sandy beaches, warm water and something with rum that you can hide in a Solo cup.  But for me, we always took the kids Spring Skiing.  Now I really love to ski.  But snow skiing in my mind requires snow.  So, for me, Spring Break meant sliding down the ice in the early morning followed by a couple of hours of really great snow.  Then, after lunch, that great snow turns to slush and I’m done!  Thus, I would find a deck on the mountain and sit in the sun wearing a short sleeve shirt.  There I would enjoy the site of the sun on the snow and the magnificent blue sky, listening to the melting snow form little streams, all while sipping an appropriate libation.  I also gained great vicarious pleasure watching people try to ski in the slush which was more like swimming with sticks on their feet!  With that in mind, I wanted to create a cocktail to complement that location and season.  A cold coffee drink sounds perfect.

I prefer to make cold coffee cocktails with cold brewed coffee.  This cocktail will work with whatever coffee syrup you like to use for cold coffee.  I used a DIY syrup using Starbucks Sumatra.  With the Sun and Snow, you have the flavors of coffee, coconut and vanilla with a hint of cinnamon and a touch of smokey spice from the chipotle.  Take it easy with the agave, unless you like it sweet.  Here then is the recipe:

Sun and Snow

• 2 oz. Cold brewed coffee syrup – undiluted
• 2 oz. Water
• 1 oz. Kalani Coconut Liqueur
• 1 oz. Licor 43
• 3/4 oz. Cream
• 1 dash Agave syrup
• 1 pinch Cinnamon
• 1 pinch Chipotle powder

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake to chill and froth the cream – about 20-30 seconds
3. Double strain in to the chilled cocktail glass
4. Try not to get sunburned

Cold Brewed Coffee Syrup

• 3 1/2 cups coarsely ground coffee
• 5 cups water

1. Combine coffee and water in a container stir well and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature.
2. Strain, first through a fine mesh filter, then through a paper filter
3. Keeps refrigerated for 1-2 weeks

PS: It’s 80º today in San Antonio, so I’m headed out to sit in the sun!

Cheers!

Mixology Monday

It is Mixology Monday!  The theme, “Drink of Shame,”  is the invention of our host Tipicular Fixins.  We have all quaffed a few sweet, strange libations and I have imbibed my share of questionable drinks. This Month’s challenge, (now that we are real mixologists), is to create a cocktail  that elevates a drink from our misadventurous youth onto a higher plain.    I thought of resurrecting Trash Can Punch like some Frankenstein concoction, but instead I have chosen the Pina Colada.

When I was young, I spent a lot of time diving.  I would travel to islands and points south of Mexico known primarily for beautiful beaches, clear waters and unreliable postal service.  I would order a Pina Colada at practically every bar I entered.  These were occasionally amazing, but primarily consisted of some white liquid along with an unknown rum – all whirred with ice and usually sticky sweet.  I don’t remember ever ordering one in the US.

The cocktail I created, the Paradise Remembered, keeps the flavors of rum, coconut and pineapple, but I made it as a sour.  I used Kalani Coconut Liqueur, Cruzan Dark Aged Rum, fresh pineapple juice and Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur.  The result is much lighter than a Pina Colada.  The flavors are coconut and rum with the pineapple completing the combination.  The egg yolk contributes that silky mouth feel along with the appealingly luxurious, thick foam floating on top.

 Paradise Remembered

• 1 1/2 Oz. Kalani Coconut Liqueur
• 3/4 Oz. Cruzan Dark Aged Rum
• 1 oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice
• 1/2 Oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1 egg yolk

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake without ice for 30 seconds
3. Add Ice and shake until chilled 10 – 15 seconds
4. Double strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Cheers!