"PANDEMONIUM" COCKTAIL (A.GLASS 2023)

 

For the spice mix:

• Three cloves
• Three Cardamom pods (bruised open)
• One cinnamon stick
• Two tablespoons of good quality ground coffee, prepared with non-milk.
• A single squirt of sugar free quality sweetener (non artificial)
• One ounce of water or the equivalent of an espresso cup (if available)

Alcohol base:   

• Two ounces of Plantation Dark Rum
• Two dashes of orange bitters
• Droplet of Maraschino Liqueur 

Garnish:

• Maraschino cherry and Cinnamon stick.

Preparation:

Place the spices, prepared coffee, sweetener and water into a small pot.  Do not boil and keep heat at a very low temperature.  Ensure that the spices and coffee/water begins to emit a spiced scent.  Filter mixture through a muslin cloth into an espresso cup.  Place aside and allow to cool. 

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, coat a chilled 'rocks glass' with the orange bitters.  Add the Rum to the shaker, followed by 1/2 ounce of the spice/coffee mix.  Then a droplet of Maraschino Liqueur.  Stir the contents very gently with a cocktail spoon, to ensure that the Rum and Spice flavors mix well without aggravating the Rum base.   Strain into the rocks glass with ice.  Garnish with Maraschino cherry and Cinnamon stick.

Background:

The Pandemonium is meant to be complex drink, which took me over a week to get the right mix, particularly with the spices.  I wanted a good quality Rum and 'Plantation Rum' worked very well as a mid-tier Rum, due to its blend of aged Jamaican Rums.   The point of the cocktail is to be able to taste the Rum, and Plantation does offer a full body taste, with its fragrant nose, due to being stored (before bottled) in American oak barrels.  So, the sweetness had to be toned down, ensuing that the complexity of the spice mix would complement the Rum base.  The orange bitters assisted in offsetting the sweet tastes from the maraschino liqueur and spice mix.  The coffee flavour within the cocktail is very mild, which helped round off the cocktail, giving it a mature and sophisticated stature. 

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"PANDEMONIUM" cocktail (A.Glass 2023)