Happy New Year everyone! Here are some cocktail recipes I came up with spanning over 3 months. For the full list of recipes go to The Cocktail Barrel section and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
After reviewing the Pusser’s 151 I had to use it in a drink.
Pusser’s 151 was made in Guyana and bottled in the British Virgin Islands. Part of the blend contains distillate from the legendary Port Mourant Wooden Still. Aged for 3 years and inspired by the Royal Navy rum ration, this is a nice, rich rum with a “dark” profile.
For this drink I chose to simply enhance the liquorice and chocolate profile of the rum.
The name can be a hit or miss, but here is:
Liqueur Ace
Pusser’s Select Aged 151 – 50ml
Absinthe – 5ml
Peychaud’s Bitters – 3 dashes
Homemade Cacao Bitters – 3 dashes
Honey Syrup – 25ml
Vanilla Syrup – 15ml
Lime – 25ml
Carbonised Coconut Water – top
Add all the ingredients except the coconut water to a highball/sling glass, add crushed ice and churn. Add the carbonised coconut water and give it a stir. Top with more ice and garnish with a banana leaf, star anise and dried lime.
The coconut works very well with the liquorice/anise flavours, so if that’s not something you enjoy as a profile don’t make this (think Sambuca but watered down). You don’t need to carbonate your coconut water, but it does add a nice mouthfeel.
This recipe is built around the Fever Tree White Grape & Apricot Soda.
I chose La Progresiva because of its fruity, yet dark flavours which work very well with the brighter orchard fruits.
La Progresiva is a true Cuban rum, a blend of 11, 13 and 15 year old distillates with a fairly dry profile and complex profile.
So here is:
Cigar in the Orchard
Lime juice – 25ml
Orgeat – 15ml
Creme de peche – 10ml
Ron La Progresiva – 40ml
Fever Tree White Grape and Apricot Soda – 50ml/Top
Add all the ingredients except the soda to a highball, add crushed ice and churn. Top with the Fever Tree and give it a quick stir. Top with more crushed ice and garnish with an orange and dry rose petals.
The soda and peche bring out the fruitier flavours while the orgeat helps with the nutty ones. The result is a delicious, balanced and moreish drink. The rose petals’ scent and orgeat pair very well too.
It was decreed in 2019 that one of the most respected rum distilleries in the world, Foursquare, would be celebrated on the 17th of November as that was its opening date in 1996.
In order to avoid the FOMO and join the online celebrations I scratched my head to come up with a drink using the ingredients I have that wouldn’t be the Gayle Seale Daiquiri.
In the end I made a fusion between the Nuclear Daiquiri and the Dry Daiquiri because I am lazy like that – it did work!
For the rums, I used a split base of 2 ECS releases, one very old and one fairly new: Foursquare Port Cask and Foursquare Nobiliary.
The Nobiliary is a 14 year old rum bottled at 60% ABV that serves as the overproof of the drink with plenty of woodiness and spice. The Port Cask adds a softer touch with the port influences bringing some well needed fruitiness to the drink.
Here it is:
Wasteland Daiquiri
Lime juice – 25ml
John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum – 15ml
Green Chartreuse – 15ml
Re’al Passion Fruit Syrup – 10ml
Campari – 10ml
Homemade Cacao Bitters – 2 dashes
Foursquare Nobiliary – 25ml
Foursquare Port Cask – 25ml
Add ingredients to a shaker, shake well (needs dilution) and double strain into a coupette. Garnish with a fancy red dry lime.
All the ingredients happen to work very well together with the cacao bitters binding everything. The result is a spicy, herbal, woody, tropical, punchy Daiquiri that ticks all the boxes.
I wanted to make a drink with the rum from Ron Cabezon ever since I tried a sample from them a while ago.
Ron Cabezon is made with Caribbean rum which is infused in Scotland with botanicals and spices such as sultanas, kola-nut, cubeb and vanilla.
The result is a botanical rum with intense herbaceous and “green” notes.
Because of its profile I decided to go with similar “green” ingredients. There we go:
Coriander Punch
Lime Juice – 25ml
Coriander & Fennel Seeds Syrup – 15ml
Fig Leaf Liqueur – 15ml
Ron Cabezon – 35ml
Black Pepper & Cardamom Bitters – 1/3 pipette
Carbonated Camomile Tea – 100ml
Add all the ingredients to a shaker except the tea, shake and strain in a highball over cubed ice. Top with the tea and garnish with pressed coriander leaves, dry lime and Tesco mixed herbs.
The resulting concoction tastes spicy and botanical, bringing up the aromas in the flavoured rum.
This was my simple punch recipe for NYE or any party for that matter.
The recipe is for 4 litres of punch and it technically stores 20 serves, although they are quite large, so you can always split them in smaller ones – it is quite punchy (pun intended).
I stored it in a 4 litre jar with a dispenser, it’s pretty handy.
Here is my:
NY Punch
Rhum Bologne Gold/any accessible aged agricole – 700ml
Worthy Park 109/Overproof navy style (Pusser’s, Wood’s etc.) – 300ml
Cinnamon syrup (1.5:1) – 125ml
Sugar syrup (2:1) – 125ml
Lime juice – 300ml
Pineapple juice (pressed) – 1000ml
Orange juice – 500ml
Angostura Bitters – 15ml
Cold water – 500ml
The spices are optional, but be careful not to overdo it:
Cinnamon sticks – 5
Cloves – 4
Star anise – 1
Also feel free to add some citrus wheels, they look nice.
Add all to the jar, except the water, and let it cool in the fridge over night. Add the water on the day of consumption and mix – add more water if it’s too much, I like my drinks on the strong side.
A standard serve is 177.5ml (specific I know), but honestly you do you since it’s all mixed.
Pour in a glass over ice and garnish each serve with a touch of mint.
Hope you enjoy these! Have a great year!
Cheers!