Xmas Gifts Parade 2021 - Kick-off

It’s time to kick off our annual Xmas Gifts Parade. We are running a little bit behind with photoshoots, but we’ll try to publish a wonderful series of mouth-watering drinks between today and Christmas Eve. 

I always love a good start, today I’m not sharing just one tasty recipe with you. I’m sharing THREE tasty recipes. You want more? How about this: You will be able to enjoy all three of these drinks at Paal 26 Grand Café until the end of January. 

The first drink is a Rum Martinez, but without Maraschino liqueur. Let’s do it a bit different. 

On Double Strainger we always try to keep recipes as easy as possible, with bottles you’ll be able to find in any supermarket or liqueur store. Another threshold might be a bottle that you really never use. You won’t buy a “special” bottle for just one single cocktail recipe. Today I’m going to eliminate the bottle of Maraschino liqueur from the Martinez recipe. I have re-balanced the flavours to get the taste right. The bottle that I use as a substitute is a cherry syrup. You will absolutely use the rest of this bottle. You can mix it with soda for your kids or even pour it over your ice cream. Be careful, I used Monin Cherry Syrup which is very liquid and is intended for use in drinks. If you buy a cherry syrup which is much thicker, you need to adjust the quantity otherwise it will be too sweet.  

For all three recipes in this article I was looking for a rum that’s just a little bit sweeter and spicier than the average rum. I’ve selected two bottles that will really work. The first is Zacapa Rum from Guatemala. I’ve used it many times before and it has that special sweetness that really works for this style of drinks. Another great bottle is Rumbullion spiced rum, a rum with a fantastic taste created by the producers of the well-known Bathtub Gin. 

This award-winning spiced rum is a blend of Caribbean rum, Madagascar vanilla, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. It’s rich and complex and really fits what I had in mind for the end-of-year holidays. This is the rum you want to sip around the Christmas tree.

• Nose: Sweet Madagascar vanilla, cola, cloves and cinnamon. This is Christmas in a glass.
• Taste: Sweet, spice, orange, clove, honey, cola. An explosion of flavours.
• Finish: Long finish with creamy vanilla.

The cinnamon, vanilla and cloves also work fantastic for the other two cocktails I had in mind. Enhancing the flavour with some extra cinnamon syrup had the exact result I was looking for. I kept the recipe for the Spice 75 pretty sour, because I personally like it this way. If you want slightly more sweetness, add another 5 ml of syrup.

Rum Martinez

Ingredients
45 ml Rum
22 ml Pinguino Sweet vermouth
10 ml Tio Pepe Fino Sherry
10 ml Monin Cherry Syrup
2 dashes Orange bitters

Method
Add everything to your shaker. Give it a good shake for 10 seconds. Strain in a chilled coupe or Champagne flute. Garnish is optional, you could add a sweet cherry.

Spice 75

Ingredients
40 ml Rum
10 ml Monin Cinnamon Syrup
20 ml Lime Juice
Prosecco

Method
Add everything but the Prosecco to a shaker with lots of ice. Give it a good shake for 12 seconds. Fine strain in a Champagne glass. Top with Prosecco. Give it just one gentle stir. 

Xmas Old Fashioned

Ingredients

50 ml Rum
10 ml Monin Cinnamon Syrup
Dash of nut bitters

Method
Build in a tumbler glass with lots of ice. Stir in the glass. Garnish with orange. Pair it with a few of those small cinnamon cookies or a piece of black chocolate.

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.