Saturday, January 03, 2009

Naughty Noel

The coolest holiday card I got this year was from (you guessed it) a fellow cocktail blogger. On top of actually sending out real paper snail-mail cards (something I lament not having time to do) he custom designed both the drawing on the front and the recipe on the back.

Craig Mrusek, known as Dr. Bamboo in these parts of the blogosphere, is well known for blending both his art with the “pen” and his art with the cocktail shaker. His holiday card featured a saucy lass seductively looking over her shoulder, and the drink on the other side proved equally tempting. So, today’s blog-a-day post is in tribute to the talents of one of my favorite cyber drinking buddies.

And, can I tell you, Naughty Noel is not just good, its “OMG” good. Spicy, a little sweet, rich with mahogany. (Ok, I know there isn’t mahogany in it anywhere but, to me, it tastes silky, dark, a little rustic yet very elegant.) Bravo, Doctore.

His actual recipe calls for 2 ounces dark rum, 1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur and 1/2 ounce Torani ginger spice syrup. I followed Craigs advice on the rum and used Bacardi 8 (see below), and I pulled out my good ole Luxardo Maraschino liqueur. (See the holidays aren’t so bad, after all!)

A tip about rum from Craig himself, if you decide to create this drink at home: "Something like Cruzan aged/single barrel, Bacardi 8, or any dark Virgin Islands or Puerto Rican-style rum would be a good fit. I originally made the drink with (Cruzan Estate Diamond 5-year-old) but its no longer available, otherwise I would have specified it. Such are the travails of the booze nerd *sigh*"

1 comment:

Dr. Bamboo said...

And don't forget the freshly-grated nutmeg on top! It'll be nekkid without it! :-)

Thanks a bunch, Natalie!