"Southern Spice" cocktail.

 

For the mix:

• Organic Honey
• 1 Star Anise
• Five Cardamom Pods
• Tip of teaspoon of Turmeric

To add (non alcoholic):

• Premade Quality milk coffee (no sugar)

Alcohol Base:

• 1 ounce of Overproof Bourbon (101)
• Orange Bitters
• Maraschino liqueur 

Garnish:

• Cinnamon Stick
• Chinese Five Spice

Preparation:

Using a small cast iron pan (or pot).  Add 1 full tablespoon of honey, 2 ounces of water, 1 Star Anise and cardamom pods (slightly cracked open).  Tip of a teaspoon of ground turmeric.  Heat gently, stir carefully.  Ensure that the mix absorbs the flavour of the honey and spices.  Leave to cool at room temperature and settle for One hour.  Then strain mix into a glass.   

In a cocktail shaker, add ice, 1 1/2  ounces of overproof Bourbon, followed by 1 ounce of premade quality milk coffee.  Add 1 ounce of the Honey spice mix. Three splashes of Orange Bitters. A splash of Maraschino liqueur.  Shake, then strain into either a Rocks or Cosmopolitan glass with ice.  Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a sprinkle of Chinese Five Spice.

Background:   

*The "Southern Spice" was created by a mysterious bartender named Kalfu Avain who was around in the early 1980s in New York City, and had once worked at the famous Bemelmans Bar upper East Side, Manhattan.  Although, the Southern Spice was devised in 1983 as a homage to his African Creole roots.  The recipe was never documented or created by other bartenders, seemingly lost for many years.  Until in 1999, a small bookstore in Chelsea (now closed) which had a 2nd hand book collection, sold a book called "Voodoo: Its Origins and Practices" by Henry Gilfond (1976).   The book was signed, presumably by its once owner, Sally Templesmyth in 1981, with the handwritten recipe for the Southern Spice penned by Kalfu Avain in 1982 and inserted within the pages 12 and 13.

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(A.Glass 2024)

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*Fictional.  The cocktail was created by me.