The Eighteenth Century Cocktail

[slkinsey]

Many of us are familiar with the Twentieth Century Cocktail, which is made with gin, Lillet blonde, lemon juice and white crème de cacao. It's an interesting drink because it starts out as a nice lemony gin sour, but then has the unexpected cacao finish.

Anyway... a while back I was over at Fat Guy's place and we were poking around in his liquor cabinet trying to think of something to mix up. I noticed that he had some nice dark rum, Cointreau and plenty of limes, and thought they had the makings of a good cocktail. He had some white crème de cacao, and I thought it might be fun to put in a dash of that as well. Well, I was right. Turns out it's pretty good. After some experimentation, I've settled on the following:

1.5 oz : Myer's Original Dark rum (or other Jamaican dark rum)

1.0 oz : Cointreau

0.5 oz : fresh lime juice

0.25 oz : white crème de cacao

Shake well with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I haven't thought of a good garnish yet.

Ordinarily I wouldn't have a drink with 1.25 ounces of modifiers to only 1.5 ounces of the base spirit, but Myer's has a very full and rich flavor that has no trouble making its presence felt. In taste, the drink has much in common with the Twentieth Century Cocktail: it starts off as a dark rum sour, and then has a somewhat unexpected cacao finish. Rum and cacao isn't nearly as unexpected as gin and cacao, of course, but it's the general idea. I decided to call it the Eighteenth Century Cocktail to pay homage to the Twentieth Century Cocktail, and because rum was the liquor of the 18th century.

Give it a try.

[Ed Hamilton]

Sounds interesting, Myers's has a very full flavor that stands up well to almost any mixer. Unfortunately it isn't as aged very long and can pack a real head banger if you over indulge.

[Blondie]

How do you think it would work with Gosling's?

[slkinsey]

How do you think it would work with Gosling's?

Great, I bet. They're both rich dark heavy rums.

[Adam Balic]

There are a few 18th century mens club 'punch' recipes about. One that I make quite often is Meyer's, half lemon, half lime juice, sugar to balance and diluted with "spring water".