Because of all the hot and spicy liquor I taste here at the Burn! Blog, I often keep a mental note of cocktail recipes I can try in the future with these flavors. Other times, a liquor arrives at my home bar and I know exactly what do mix it with.
This month, I have one of each, combined with a traditional holiday drink, though at odds with each other in their flavors. I’m calling them Fire and Ice, based on my wife’s description of these cocoas flavors.
I tasted Hot Monkey this summer, and it remains the spiciest vodka I’ve encountered yet, even pitted against UV Sriracha Vodka. I made a mental note to try Hot Monkey in a cup of cocoa come Christmastime. In a case of blind luck, I received a bottle of Berentzen IceMint 100-proof Schnapps this week, too. As I already had planned a cocoa post, the IceMint joined the party, and became the Ice element of our cocoa experiment.
While the typical cocoa we drink is a quality powdered substance, I wanted to be sure and offer you a recipe that’d be both unforgettable and as tasty as possible, so I chose to make real cocoa, and I melted down chocolate in milk for these drinks.
I’d suggest that you take the recipe below and multiply it out so that you can make a hot stovetop drink for your Christmas parties that guests can serve themselves. In one group of glasses, add 1 ounce of our Fire liquor, and in the other, Ice.
Because the IceMint Schnapps is a liqueur (it’s sweetened), the Ice cocoa is a cool peppermint experience – a great holiday drink on a cold night. The Hot Monkey Fire cocoa is a totally different thing, the cocoa and chile is a wonderful combination (as well all know darn well around here) and the heat from the cocoa helps to tame the firey liquor, too.
Having a small cup of each of these cocoas was my favorite way to serve them, and I drank them back-and-forth, too: a sip of Fire, then a sip of Ice. Enjoy these cocoas made from scratch and happy holidays to you all!
Greg Mays is the Managing Editor of www.simple-cocktails.com.
- 1 ½ pounds milk chocolate (this is about 16 regular-sized bars)
- 1 gallon whole milk
- Hot Monkey Pepper Vodka (or similar)
- Berentzen IceMint Schnapps (or similar)
- Break chocolate into small pieces (about 1” size). In a stovetop pan on low heat, slowly heat chocolate, whisking constantly while it melts. When the chocolate is melted, add milk slowly and continue to whisk until the mixture is combined. Pour 1 ounce of Hot Monkey into half of your small mugs, and pour 1 ounce of IceMint into the other half of the mugs.
- Once the cocoa is fully heated, ladle approximately 4 ounces into booze-filled mugs. Serve guests 1 of each: Fire and Ice.
- Note: to make this in smaller proportions, it’s 1.5 ounces of milk chocolate (1 regular-sized bar) for every 8 ounces of milk.
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