Last night was a hot drinks themed Thursday Drink Night, and the call to libation was ceremoniously sounded by a whistling tea kettle. Here are three of the drinks proffered in the chatroom that night:
Zach Pearson took the hot milk route with his Flip-Swizzle hybrid that he dubbed a Fizzle. On the base of a delightful Chartreuse-rhum agricole Swizzle, he added egg and hot milk. When I inquired about the bitters, Zach explained that they were from a limited edition creation of Adam Elmegirab. Bittermens Tiki Bitters might sub in here quite well as would Angostura or Fee’s Aromatic.
Yellow Fizzle
• 1 oz Clement VSOP Rhum
• 1 oz Green Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz Allspice Dram
• 1 Egg
• 3 dash Experimental Swizzle Bitters (see above for substitution suggestions)
• 3 oz Hot Milk
Pre-heat a 6 oz mug with boiling water. Dry shake all but the milk. Empty the mug and pour in the shaken ingredients. Whisk in the hot milk in a swizzle-like fashion and garnish with an expressed lime zest.
I, Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin/Slut, made a variation of the classic Hot Black Stripe. The original appears in Jerry Thomas, but I utilized the one in George J. Kappeler’s Modern American Drinks where I had spotted it last. Using the same hot water and black strap molasses base, I added apple and ginger notes and named the drink after an heirloom apple varietal.
Black Limbertwig Toddy
• 1 barspoon Blackstrap Molasses (< 1/8 oz)
• 1 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy (sub Calvados)
• 1/2 oz King’s Ginger Liqueur (sub Domaine de Canton, Snap, or similar)
• 2 dash Fee’s Whiskey Barrel Bitters (sub Angostura)
• 1 piece Lemon Peel
• 2 oz Boiling Water
Preheat a 4 oz hot drink glass with boiling water. Dump out water, add molasses and fresh hot water. Stir until molasses has integrated. Add rest of ingredients and stir.
Dan Chadwick of the KindredCocktails database took the same hot milk approach as Zach but instead went in a richly flavored amaro direction. When I asked about which rum Dan used, he poured Flor de Caña but declared that plenty of other dark rums would work well here.
Milk of Meletti
• 2 oz Steamed Milk
• 1 oz Meletti Amaro
• 1/2 oz Averna
• 1/2 oz Dark Rum
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters (sub other aromatic bitters)
• 1 dash Xocolatl Mole Bitters (sub other chocolate bitters)
Preheat a hot drink cup with boiling water. Pour out water, add ingredients, and stir to mix.
