What apparently is now a tradition for us (3 years running) it’s time for our annual Labor day cocktail post. Here’s to the 5 day work week, BBQ and drinking!

After poking around in the bar, we settled on using rum since we haven’t used it a lot lately. Specifically, we chose the El Dorado aged rums as they are delicious. Currently the weather in Seattle is not exactly what one thinks of for late summer; cold and drizzly. However, we hope that it isn’t that way everywhere so we decided to do one hot weather cocktail and one cold weather cocktail.

For the first cocktail, we used rum with guava as that seemed suitably summery and a touch tropical. Turns out the guava and El Dorado pair very nicely together. We then added some lime juice to give it some acid (BTW if you want the best Old Fashioned Daiquiri ever we heartily recommend the El Dorado 21 yr, yes we know 21 yr rum in a Daiquiri?!? Sacrilege!!! Trust us. Delicious!). Then we added some tamarind paste because Christa had a wild hair that it would work well with the guava, and it does seem to play nicely. Orange curacao rounded things out with a hint of orange flavor and some sweetness. That really brought the whole drink together. All it needed was a little simple and we were good to go!

Landfall

• 2 oz Demerara dark rum (We used the El Dorado 12 yr, which is fucking delicious and a bargain for how good it is)
• 1 1/4 oz lightly sweetened guava puree (We used the one from Perfect Puree)
• 1/4 oz lime juice
• 1 tsp. tamarind paste
• 1 tsp. orange curacao
• 1 bar spoon simple syrup (1:1)

Shake with ice. Double strain into a glass (otherwise you’ll have little tamarind bits in your drink which gives it a slightly unpleasant grainy texture). Garnish with a sprig of mint. Cheers!

• Nose: Mint, guava, caramel, lime, molasses, and a little bit of jasmine.
• Palate: Orange, lime and caramel on the front. Guava in the transition from the intro to the mid-palate. Molasses and cedar wood on the mid-palate with tangy earthy notes of tamarind. Finish is acidic lime, more orange, and slight jasmine.

For cocktail #2, we decided to go with a more spirit forward drink ’cause it’s cold and drizzly here, almost Manhattan weather (though really, *any* weather can be Manhattan weather!). See, don’t move the PNW, it’s awful. Trust us. Anyhow…

For this one we went with the El Dorado 15 yr and Punt e Mes. This combination has really nice dark flavors of burnt sugar and vanilla balanced by wood and herbal notes. Definitely a tasty, cold weather kind of drink. We loved the base pairing but weren’t sure where to take it from there. We tried lots of combinations with the it – Benedictine,  raspberry liqueur, Maraschino, grenadine, various bitters (chocolate, Angostura, lemon, etc). Unfortunately, none of those made for a great combination. The Maraschino and the chocolate bitters both worked OK but overwhelmed that strong burnt sugar flavor we both liked, and the rest just muddied things. Finally, we tried some chipotle tincture. We figured with it’s savory, smokey notes and hint of heat, it would prop up the burnt sugar and vanilla notes without overwhelming them. We were not disappointed!

Doubletake

• 2 oz Demerara dark rum (We used the El Dorado 15 yr, also fucking delicious and a great value in our opinions)
• 3/4 oz Punt e Mes
• 1/3 dropper chipotle tincture (We used the Drink Addition one)

Stir with ice. Strain into glass. Garnish with a cherry.

• Nose: Burnt sugar, black cherry, cocoa and cinnamon.
• Palate: Intro is like a chocolate covered cherry – quite sweet, with chocolate, cherry, and vanilla flavors. Cedar, burnt sugar, slightly charred and bitter green herbal notes. Dries out on the finish, with the charred green flavor mixing with smoke and a hit of chipotle heat.

We hope that where ever you are, you’re having a lovely Labor Day weekend and that you find the time to have a drink or three while you grill some critter parts/veggies/soybean products on the barbecue. Until next time, cheers!