MxMo: My-Nog-A-Nog

Thanks to The Scribe at A Mixed Dram for hosting the January edition of Mixology Monday. In keeping with the theme of "Broaden Your Horizons" I have whipped up a nog.

Wait a minute. A nog? Like egg nog? How cliche is that?

I've made conventional egg nog before, but I want to broaden the sense of a nog. For my purposes, following a classic recipe doesn't count as truly creating a nog. That's why a nog broadens my horizons. I wanted a drink that is original. That doesn't come in a carton six weeks a year. That is tied to a season rather than a fleeting holiday.

So I kept the dairy base but left out the eggs. I also played up the cinnamon profile in three ways: in the base, in a spiked whipped cream and in the garnish. And I threw in three warm liquors that are customarily poured in the winter -- bourbon, rum and brandy. I also added a hint of complementary caramel to the spiked whipped cream.

The result was a warming drink just right for the winter months, steeped in cinnamon with a creamy yet with light and airy consistency. And even a Muppets reference.

My-Nog-A-Nog

1 Q whole milk
1/2 C white sugar
2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 C superfine sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out
4 sticks cinnamon
2 C heavy cream
1/2 C caramel Irish cream liqueur
1 1/2 C bourbon
3/4 C light rum
1 1/2 C brandy

Bring the milk, white sugar, cinnamon and vanilla bean pod halves and seeds just to a boil, stirring occasionally, being careful not to scald the milk. Remove from the heat. Remove vanilla bean pod halves and cinnamon sticks and discard. Cool mixture until it reaches room temperature.

(All right, you could stop here and use the mixture in coffee. Or espresso vodka.)

In a large chilled bowl with a chilled whisk or beaters, prepare the spiked whipped cream -- combine the cream, Irish cream liqueur, cinnamon and superfine sugar and beat to soft peaks.

Combine the bourbon, brandy and rum with the milk mixture. Fold in about two thirds of the sweetened whipped cream, reserving and refrigerating the rest. Refrigerate nog until chilled, about an hour. Pour nog into glasses. Top each with a spoonful of the reserved spiked whipped cream. Garnish with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

Gingerbread with Caramel Three Ways

Gingerbread with Caramel Three Ways

About 1/2 oz Bacardi 151 rum
1/2 oz purchased caramel syrup
1 oz caramel Irish cream liqueur
1 oz gingerbread liqueur
2 oz light rum

Swirl Bacardi 151 rum in a cocktail glass and ignite with a match. (Be careful! The flame can be a pale blue that's hard to see.) Burn for about 10 seconds, then blow the flame out. Shake remaining ingredients together with ice and strain into the glass.

Vanilla Gingerbread Cream

Vanilla Gingerbread Cream

1 oz vodka
1 oz Irish cream liqueur
1 oz cream
1 oz Hiram Walker gingerbread liqueur
1/4 vanilla bean

Pour liquors and cream into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Cut 1/4 of a vanilla bean open, and use the blade of the knife to scape out the seeds (here's how). Add the seeds to the shaker. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Gingerbread Runner Up #1

Gingerbread Runner Up #1

1 oz cream liqueur (I used Starbuck's)
1 oz Hiram Walker gingerbread liqueur
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz amaretto
1/4 oz butterscotch liqueur

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Gingerbread Runner Up #3

Gingerbread Runner Up #3

1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1 oz Hiram Walker gingerbread liqueur
1 oz cream

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Bananas Foster Cocktail

Mixology Monday: New Orleans



Bananas Foster Cocktail

This month's Mixology Monday theme (thanks to Paul for hosting) has a New Orleans theme, apropos of course to the venue for Tales of the Cocktail. Sadly, my professional duties sent me to California last week instead. But my thoughts were still in the bayou.

For the past ten years or so I've always had one case or another in Louisiana. Once I went to New Orleans leading up to a settlement meeting. I had an unforgettable meal at Brennan's restaurant, from turtle soup to a tableside preparation of Bananas Foster. Many years later, I remember every bite of that dessert. This cocktail morphs the key flavors of Bananas Foster -- brown sugar, dark rum, bananas, cinnamon, cream -- into liquid form.

(By the way, we ended up with a sweet settlement.)

Salut!


Bananas Foster Cocktail

2 oz dark rum
1 oz banana liqueur
1 oz dark brown sugar syrup
1 oz cream

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass with a cinnamon-sugar rim garnish.

Candied Hazelnut Cocktail

My apologies for the delay in posting, it has been entirely too long. I have had a new drink chambered for days now and was ready to post some time ago. However, Mother Nature had a different plan. Just as I was about to post, some severe storms rolled through Virginia, DC and Maryland and knocked out the power. And the cable Internet access. And the phone. And somehow, even the mobile phone.

Fortunately, the Internet access cranked up again this morning. As I drove around the neighborhood, I felt lucky. Some of my neighbors' trees had been reduced in the worst case to logs and sawdust, or in the better case to branchless trunks. My yard luckily was passed over by the vagaries of the storm. Considering that far worse happened to others in northern Virginia, I am fortunate indeed.

Now, with the buzz of chainsaws in the background, things are getting somewhat back to normal, and I am delighted to offer another creamy new drink, absolutely one of my favorites...

Candied Hazelnut Cocktail

2 oz vodka

1/2 oz butterscotch schnapps

1/2 oz coffee liqueur

1/2 oz whole milk

1/4 oz hazelnut syrup

Stir ingredients together with ice in a double old-fashioned glass.

Derby Day Cinnamon Latte

A gift of a bottle of espresso vodka and a challenge to experiment with it...I cannot resist.


Derby Day Cinnamon Latte


1 1/2 oz espresso vodka
1 oz Irish cream liqueur

Splash cinnamon schnapps
1 oz whole milk


Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Or, for the coffee cup presentation, swirl ice and water in the cup until chilled. Discard ice and water. Strain the cocktail into the cup. Use a frother (such as an Aerolatte) to foam the surface and sprinkle with cinnamon or a one-to-one cinnamon sugar blend.

Tuaca Cream

Tuaca Cream

1 1/2 oz Tuaca
2 oz Irish cream liqueur
1 oz whole milk

Stir ingredients together over ice in a highball glass.

Raspberry Almond Cream

Raspberry Almond Cream

2 oz raspberry rum
2 oz Irish cream liqueur
1 oz amaretto
1 oz milk

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. (I used a glass rimmed with a blend of superfine and turbonado sugars.)

Vanilla Orange Cream

Vanilla Orange Cream

This cocktail has a creamy feel with a mild vanilla-orange taste.

1 oz vanilla vodka
1 oz triple sec
1 oz whole milk

Shake ingredients toegther over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with orange-tinted sugar.

The Lacey

The Lacey is one of my favorite new cocktails.

The Lacey

1 oz caramel Irish cream liqueur
1 oz milk
1 oz vodka
½ oz hazelnut liqueur

Shake ingredients together over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.