Christmas in July

Jelani Johnson, Clover Club | Brooklyn, NY

Christmas in July cocktail recipe

“You think that you can’t have a winter tiki drink, but you totally totally can,” says Jelani Johnson. “It doesn’t always have to be a fruity drink on cobbled ice.” Here, Johnson plays on the his own recipe for Hot Buttered Rum, the first drink of his to make it on the Clover Club menu, but offers a cold version built on brown butter-washed rum. Bolstered by housemade coconut-coffee ice cream and cinnamon bark syrup, the drink is shaken until frothy for a creamy, flip-like drink.

Ingredients

Serving: 1

  • 2 ounces brown butter-fat-washed Diplomatico Exclusiva Reserva rum (see Editor's Note)
  • 2 ounces brown butter-fat-washed Diplomatico Exclusiva Reserva rum (see Editor's Note)
  • 1 1/2 ounces whole milk
  • 1 1/2 ounces whole milk
  • 1 ounce coconut-coffee ice cream (see Editor's Note)
  • 1 ounce coconut-coffee ice cream (see Editor's Note)
  • 1/4 ounce demerara syrup (2:1, demerara sugar:water)
  • 1/4 ounce demerara syrup (2:1, demerara sugar:water)
  • 1/4 ounce cinnamon bark syrup (see Editor's Note)
  • 1/4 ounce cinnamon bark syrup (see Editor's Note)
  • 1 dash Swabbie's Dashes #2 (1:1 Dale DeGroff's Pimento Aromatic Bitters:cinnamon bark tincture), see Editor's Note
  • 1 dash Swabbie's Dashes #2 (1:1 Dale DeGroff's Pimento Aromatic Bitters:cinnamon bark tincture), see Editor's Note

Garnish: cocktail umbrella

Directions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing tin and shake vigorously with ice.
  2. Strain into a flip glass.
  3. Garnish with a cocktail umbrella.
Editor's Note

Brown-Butter-Fat-Washed Rum:
1 750ml bottle rum
1 cup unsalted butter

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the butter, whisking occasionally, until it caramelized and brown. Remove from heat and let cool. Add the rum and store the mixture in the freezer until the butter solidifies. Skim the butter off the top before re-bottling the rum.

Coconut-Coffee Ice Cream:
2 cups cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 15-ounce can Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
2 eggs
2 ounces demerara syrup (2:1, demerara sugar:water)
1 ounce coffee liqueur, preferably Santa Teresa Araku
4 ounces ground coconut coffee beans, preferably Porto Rico Importing Co.

Heat all ingredients in a double-boiler, whisking constantly until the mix starts to steam and froth. Rapidly chill the mix and freeze in an ice cream maker.

Cinnamon Bark Syrup:
1 ounce crushed cinnamon bark
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit overnight at room temperature before straining and storing.

Cinnamon Bark Tincture:
1 ounce cassia bark
1 750ml bottle overproof rum, preferably El Dorado 151

In a small pan, toast the cassia bark until fragrant. Add the bark to the bottle of rum and let sit indefinitely.

Tagged: rum