Wednesday, January 13, 2010

haitian witch

2 oz Haitian Rum (Barbancourt 15 Year)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
1/4 oz Simple Syrup (Demerara preferable)
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass.

On Monday night after my DJing gig, we stopped into Eastern Standard for dinner and a cocktail. When I asked bartender Paul for something with rum, Aaron Butler of Drink (soon to be of Russell House Tavern) was sitting to our left and joined in on the discussion. Aaron suggested a Daiquiri variant called the Haitian Witch, which is kind of eerie considering the disaster that happened in Haiti the next day. The variance in the Daiquiri recipe came in the addition of Cherry Heering liqueur instead of some of the simple syrup and the inclusion of Peychaud's bitters for spice. Both extra ingredients donated an curious reddish hue to the Haitian Witch. The drink itself started with a lime nose and grassy notes with lime flavors on the sip. The Heering's cherry and the bitter's spice appeared at the end of the swallow along with a little of the rum's heat. Midway through my drink, Andrea noticed that the house iPod had started playing Frank Sinatra's "Witchcraft" that added another level of intrigue to the cocktail experience that night.

3 comments:

fiona said...

I don't drink a lot of rum, but this looks like it's worth trying.

Craig said...

Hmm, the name does seem to be in bad taste, considering... but the drink is somewhat like a drink I devised for a friend's engagement party - it was called the Red Velvet, and featured white rum, heering, velvet falerum, and lime juice (can't remember if there was any simple in there...)\

As for your Mxmo this week, last night I mixed up a gin hot toddy using earl grey tea (2 oz gin, 1 oz. lemon juice, 3/4 oz 1:1 simple syrup, hot tea, cinnamon stick to garnish).

Cliff said...

This drink cries out for a cherry and paper parasol garnish! I'll let you know how it turns out!

Terrific blog!