A Muddled Thought

Pama Pomegranate Liquor is created by combining natural pomegranate juice, vodka and tequila, with the end result, a product filled with notes of pomegranate, and minor hints of vanilla and citrus.

After tasting Pama Pomegranate, we decided to try our hands at a few new recipes utilizing it as a component.

Buckley and Sunshine

2 oz Bombay
3/4 oz Pama Pomegranate liquor
1oz Vanilla coconut Demerara tea syrup
1 Dash Scrappy’s Lavender bitters
Garnish with burnt orange zest

Buckley and Sunshine. A combination of Pama Pomegranate Liquor, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Vanilla Coconut Demerara Syup,and Scrappy's Lavender Bitters.

A Tini Tipple of Tea
1 oz Lapsang Souchong Infused Pama Pomegranate Liquor
1 ¾ of Beefeater 24 Gin
¾ Vanilla Syrup
½ oz Lime Juice
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
Shake with Ice
Garnish with Lemon Peel

A Combination of Lapsang Souchong Infused Pama Pomegranate Liquor, Beefeater 24, Vanilla Syrup, and Angostura BItters.

The Red Smoking Bandit
1 oz Pama Pomegranate Liquor
¾ oz Lagvulin 16 Whiskey
1 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
2 dashes whiskey barrel
¼ oz Lime juice
¾ oz Simple Syrup

Recently I had the opportunity to attend an event at The Astor Center known as the Cocktail Jam. During a jam session, brands generally sponsor an hour of bartenders seeing what they can come up with on the spot in while behind the bar. It doesn’t hurt that a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales went to The Food Bank of New York City.

While working at the Cocktail Jam, I ran into William Doyle who runs the marketing for Compass Box Whiskey. Compass Box had sponsored the hour from 7pm-8pm and I had offered to represent them with a cocktail behind the bar. Sharing the hour with Compass Box, was Partida Tequila, another favorite brand of mine to work with in cocktails.

During our conversation before my shift behind the bar, Billy had mentioned that in a past life he had worked with Partida and asked if I could create a cocktail with both products. As one whose always up for a challenge I told him it wouldn’t be a problem. My understanding at the time was I would be creating one cocktail with both spirits as ingredients.

I found out later that Billy had actually meant two separate cocktails, one with Compass Box and one with Partida.

I decided to go with my original thought and to see what I could up with by using both products in one cocktail

With the nice smokey yet subtle flavor that Peat Monster possesses, it lends itself quite easily to working in cocktails without overpowering the other spirits. Playing off the traditional margarita, I decided to combine some mole bitters that have a spicy yet sweet flavor, the Peat Monster and Partida Reposado with its hints of cocoa, and caramel.

The results of this misunderstanding became known as:

Branded and Confused
1 oz Peat Monster
2 oz Partida Reposado
¼ Lime Juice
1oz Demerara Sugar
Eggwhite

Branded and Confused. A combination of Peat Monster, Partida Reposado, Lime Juice, Demerara Sugar, Eggwhite and Mole Bitters.

We recently received a sample of Hiram Walker’s Gingerbread Liquor and as winter is the best time to enjoy the sweet yet spicy flavors of ginger bread, we decided to see what new recipes we could come up with.

“The Ginga Man is Callin”

1 ¾ oz Buffalo Trace
½ oz Hiram Walker Gingerbread Liquor
¾ oz Navan Vanilla Liquor
1 Dash Peychaud Bitters
¼ oz of Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
Burnt Orange Zest

“Warm in Oh So Many Ways Cocoa”

For the next recipe with Hiram Walker Ginger Bread Liquor, we decided to try a version of homemade cocoa that utilizes a great deal of booze. That way if the heat doesn’t warm you up, at least the generous amounts of spirits might.

First we started with the cocoa base.

We combined the 2 1/2 cups of Milk and 1/2 cup of Hiram Walker Gingerbread Liquor, 20 black peppercorns, and 1/2 barspoon of chili powder. We heated these ingredients until everything began to boil. We then removed it from the heat, and added a bar and a half of Dagoba Mole Chocolate Bars and stirred until the chocolate was fully melted and combined with the rest of the base.

After this is complete, strain into a large mug that has already been filled with the following:

1 ½ Rhum J.M. Gold
1 Dash Mole Bitters
½ oz Solerno Blood Orange Liquor

For the boozy whipped cream:

Combine-

5 oz of Heavy Cream
2 teaspoons Sugar
2oz of Navan Vanilla Liquor

Shake until it becomes a whipped cream.

Distribute on top of the “Warm in Oh So Many Ways Cocoa”.

Warm in Oh So Many Ways Cocoa- The Navan Whipcream has started to melt slightly in this photo.

The Navan Vanilla Liquor based Whipcream before being used to top the Warm in Oh So Many Ways Cocoa.