Created by Brian Miller of New York hotspot Death & Co, I thought this would be a great drink to welcome October (Rocktober for you a Rock ‘n Rollers) and begin the build up to Halloween. Death & Co, will also be well represented at this weekend’s Manhattan Cocktail Classic.

Enjoy Brian’s scary Halloween take on the classic fizz.

Sleepy Hollow Fizz

1 1/2 oz. Flor de Caña 7yr old rum
1/2 oz. El Dorado 151 proof demerara rum
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. maple syrup
2 barspoon pumpkin puree
1 egg yolk
Top club soda

Dry shake, shake with 3 ice cubes and strain into a fizz glass -no garnish

Pumpkin Puree
Take one 15 oz can of Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin, add 1 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp of ground cloves and 15 oz of simple syrup and blend it all together in a blender or Cuisinart. Store in the fridge.

past drink of the week cocktails
recipe and photo courtesy Flor de Caña Rum

Today, August 16th, we celebrate Rum, the wonderful spirit that is the base of many classic cocktails including the Daiquiri, Mai Tai and Pina Colada. Rum was instrumental in the growth of the American colonies, Australia and was a staple for British sailors until 1970.

So what is rum?

It is a spirit distilled from molasses, which is a by product of the sugar manufacture. There are a few instances where Rum is made from straight cane juice. Rum is produced just about any where people grow sugar cane, but it’s true home lies in the West Indies. The style of Rum differs from island to island, with lighter rums coming from Spanish speaking islands, darker from English speaking islands and cane juice based from the french speaking islands.

Rum is produced in 3 main styles. White, Gold and Dark.

White Rum, the best coming from Cuba or Puerto Rico, are unaged and are create base for many cocktails.

Gold Rum, is basically white rum that has been been barrel aged giving it a but more flavor and character.

Dark Rum, is aged the longest in heavily charred barrels. This type of rum is synonymous with Jamaica and Bermuda, but some very fine Dark Rums are now being produced in Nicaragua and Honduras. Dark Rum is also used in cooking quite often.

There are also seveal other types of rum that are really variants of the main 3, including Spiced Rum, flavored and the oh so scary 151, which is an over proof rum. Many distilleries are also making super premium Rums that compete with fine Cognac and Whiskeys.

Interestingly, Rum is the base of many “Polynesian” drinks found in Tiki bars around the world. Still, most of these drinks originated in the Caribbean or in the case of the Mai Tai, Oakland, CA.

Rum is a now experiencing a Renaissance, much like Bourbon and Tequila before it. There is som much more to it that Coke.

Rum cocktails

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• Ron del Barrilito Puerto Rican Rum (drinkoftheweek.com)

Sunday is National Rum Day which is perfect for a hot August Sunday. To celebrate, we are featuring the Macuá, a long drink made with Flor de Caña 4 year old Rum, guava,orange and lime juices and a touch of simple syrup. What are the origins of the day? Not sure yet, but we have a few days to find out.

Macuá

1 ½ oz. Flor de Caña 4 year old
1 oz. guava juice
1 oz. orange juice
½ oz. lemon juice
1/3 oz. simple sugar

Fill ¾ of a cocktail shaker with ice and add Flor de Caña rum, guava juice, orange juice, lemon juice and simple sugar.
Shake well for 20-30 seconds, serve in a Tom Collins glass with ice and decorate with orange slice and cherry.

recipe & photo courtesy Flor de Caña Rum
past drink of the week cocktails

This Week’s Drink is brought to us by Guest Blogger Caitlin D. (@catincal)

I’m the kind of girl who giggles for no reason, loves twirly dresses and is the first to grab a karaoke microphone. Oh, and I love cocktails.

Watermelon Granita

I’m a huge fan of outdoor dinner parties in the summer and love matching a festive, seasonal drink to a traditional BBQ menu. One of my favorite bartenders, Esteban Ordonez, created the following recipe with DonQ rum that makes me want to sit in an Adirondack chair with grilled corn on the cob in one hand and this concoction in the other. While the drink is surely tasty with regular ice, the crushed ice really makes this drink perfect for the warm weather months. If you don’t have your 80’s style Snoopy Sno Cone machine handy (dotw actually had one of these as a child), a simple ice crusher, like thi Stainless Steel Retro Ice Crusher works great.

Watermelon Granita

1 oz. DonQ Cristal
1 oz. Fresh watermelon juice
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. Fresh lemon juice
1 dash of Yuzu esscence

Served over crushed ice, on a highball glass rimed with a citrus salt and a watermelon stick.

We don’t have a picture of this one, but we do have a video we took at Tales of the Cocktail of Esteban making a passion fruit rum slush (which is kinda like a granita) with liquid nitrogen. OK, so it may not be the same, but it is pretty cool anyway.

more Drink of the Week cocktails

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• 2009 Big Trends in Cocktail Service (drinkoftheweek.com)

The first session I attended during last week’s Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans was a panel titled “2009 Big Trends in Cocktail & Spirit Service”. The panel consisted of Jim Meehan - PDT, NYC, Michael Waterhouse, Devlin Tavern, NYC, and Simon Difford - Source Guide and was moderated by Ryan Magarian - Aviation Gin. The program covered the 4 Ps of Cocktail Service Success, not unlike the 4 Ps of marketing, Product, Precise Execution, Promotion, Passion. It was here that I discover the magic of Tales of the Cocktail, this was no boring seminar and they were serving drinks! A few samples of the cocktail being discussed. Sure is was 10:30 am , but this was New Orleans.

The Panel started off with a discussion product trends.

Spirits
Overall the trend is for full-flavored spirits, moving away from the vodka craze of late. Mezcal, Gin (the new vodka?) and Rye Whiskey are at the forefront of the full-flavored Renaissance. In addition, aged rum is exploding and Jameson sales are through the roof. Cacacha is also making huge strides from just a few years ago.

Sweet
Fortified wines like Sherry, Lillet and vermouth are popular ingredients in cocktails, as well are rice wines sake and shochu. St. Germain elderflower liqueur appears on just about every cocktail menu, and other flower based liqueurs are popping up. Other trending sweeteners include specialty sugars, Agave nectar, Maple syrup and orgeat.

(more…)

This week we feature the Creole Julep, a spin on the traditional Mint Julep and the official cocktail of this years Tales of the Cocktail.

The cocktail was created by Maksym Pazuniak, a mixologist at Rambla and Cure in New Orleans. This rum based Julep is made with Clement Creole Shrubb a unique rum based orange liqueur from Martinique. It gives this Julep a nice peppery kick with a hint of orange.

The Creole Julep

2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum
1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb
1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100 Rum
2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
8-10 mint leaves1 Demerara Sugar Cube

Put mint in glass with the sugar and muddle gently. Fill halfway with crushed ice, add the rums. Don’t stir. Fill rest of the way with crushed ice. Finally, add the bitters.

Created by Maksym Pazuniak, Rambla/Cure
Tales of the Cocktail
past Drink of the Week Cocktails

Cachaça is one of the hottest spirits this Summer thanks to the growing popularity of the caipirinha. Mixologists everywhere are quickly becoming fans of the spirit and taking cocktails way beyond the caipirinha and into unexplored and delicious territory. This week’s drink is no exception. The ‘summer of cachaça’ will kicks off today, June 12th, International Cachaça Day. The holiday was started by Sociedade Brasileira da Cachaça, a Brasilian government organization. It was created to commemorate June 12th, 1744: the day when Portugal, then the colonial authority in Brasil, outlawed the production and selling of cachaça. It didn’t work. Thank god!

The Marpessa

1 oz Cachaça
3/4 oz Orchard Pear Liqueur
1/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 oz simple syrup
1 oz Aloe Vera

Combine with ice in a cocktail shaker, Shake and strain into a chilled, tall cocktail glass, garnished with a thinly sliced lime wheel

Courtesy Cabana Cachaça
past Drink of the Week cocktails

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