I received a sample bottle of Clyde May's Alabama Style Whiskey for a promotion and, like I always do, popped that bottle open and took a sip. Nice way to jump start your day, trust me. Later that afternoon I went back in for a closer experience. The nose was spicy with a hint of fruit, then caramel and chocolate chimes in and surrounded my palate with a very nice soothing note.
After that hit of chocolate I decided I was heading into having a Manhattan and, since National Chocolate Day was coming up, I decided I'd go the chocolate route by adding a bit of creme de cacao and replacing the standard Manhattan bitters with some chocolate bitters. I skipped the cherry garnish and added a hit of orange by twisting some orange peel over the top.
Quite a nice and easy cocktail but with a satisfying complexity and perfect for the start of fall.
The
CHOCOLATE MANHATTAN
COCKTAIL RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
2 Oz. Clyde May's Alabama Style Whiskey
1/2 Cinzano Rosso
1/4 Oz. White Creme de Cacao
2 Dashes Chocolate Bitters
Garnish: Orange twist
DIRECTIONS
Tap the bitters over ice in a chilled Old Fashioned glass.
Pour in the Cinzano Rosso, Creme de Cacao and whiskey.
Stir gently.
Twist some orange over the top, drop in then serve.
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY
When I received this bottle of Nemiroff Honey Pepper Vodka I was imagining a flavor infusion of honey with black peppercorns for some reason. That might have been because here in Arizona we call any hot pepper a chile or a chile pepper, not just a pepper. And to be honest, if I hadn't gone to the website and checked out what this vodka was made from, I would still be under the impression it was a mild black pepper because the heat from the chile pepper is extremely subtle, literally almost not there until the finish. Mostly I enjoyed a heavy honey flavor with a tinge of fruit and a bit of herbal flavors in the background, then the heat came as a surprising and pleasant afterthought. The honey gives this vodka it's color and I suspect it also gives it body. There was an almost aged whiskey-like mouth feel that surprised me. If I was allowed to say only one thing about this vodka, it would be that it had substance.
I felt the vodka carried its own weight in the flavor department and decided that a cobbler style cocktail was a great way to feature that flavor without interfering too much. I also wanted to accentuate the fruit flavor a bit more so, instead of using simple syrup, I used a strawberry liqueur as my sweetener while sticking with the addition of the traditional orange slices of a typical cobbler.
The
STRAWBERRY CHILE
COBBLER COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 Oz. Nemiroff Honey Pepper Vodka
1 Oz. Fragoli Strawberry Liqueur
2 Orange Slices, quartered
3 Small Strawberries, sliced
Garnish: Orange Slices, Strawberries, Metal Straw
DIRECTIONS
Muddle the orange and strawberry slices with the strawberry liqueur in a chilled highball glass.
Add the Nemiroff Honey Pepper Vodka, stir.
Fill the glass with crushed ice, stir.
Garnish and serve.
My thanks to Baddish Group and Nemiroff Vodka for the chance to try out the Nemiroff Honey Pepper Vodka.
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY
