Amaretto is a sweet almond flavoured liqueur which I like to mix with well aged oaky spirits. The sweet almond flavour tends to meld into the sappy oak notes and the combination results in a wonderful sipping (slightly sweet) cocktail. This is not a new idea, the classic scotch whisky cocktail, the Godfather, is exactly this style of bar drink. Several years ago I built a very similar cocktail using a well aged rum instead of whisky as its base. A good friend of mine named Forrest (see his website here) helped me tweak the recipe, and we gave the bar drink the new name, El Padrino which of course, is Spanish for Godfather.
When I was thinking of a suitable cocktail for my latest rum acquisition, Vizcaya VXOP Cask No. 21, I wanted to explore this theme with a similar cocktail. However, I hoped for a bar drink which would showcase the flavour of the Dominican Rum. I decided that adding a second complimentary flavour, Orange Curacao, might be a good idea. The almond notes within the rum would be accented by the Amaretto, and the orange peel notes within the rum would be accented by the Orange Curacao. When I experimented, I found that a single dash of Fees Cocktail Bitters (with its cinnamon and clove flavours) enhanced the cocktail even more.
As this cocktail was a shortened (albeit more complex) form of the original El Padrino (Godfather), I settled upon the shortened (perhaps also more complex) name El Padre’ (Father) for my new cocktail.
I hope you like it.
El Padre’
2 oz aged Vizcaya Cask 21
1/8 oz Luxardo Amaretto (see review here)
1/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao (see review here)
few drops Fee’s Cocktail Bitters
crushed ice (1/3)
ice cubes (2/3)
Lime slice
Add the first four ingredients into a metal cocktail shaker
Add both crushed ice and ice cubes
Shake until the sides of the shaker frost
Double strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a slice of lime
Enjoy
If you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!
Note: My review for Vizcaya V.X.O.P. Cask No. 21 Rum will publish tomorrow.
Vizcaya Rum is produced in the Dominican Republic for a third-party (the neck label says “Imported by Amex Spirits“) by the independent company Oliver and Oliver. Oliver and Oliver produce a variety of rum brands using distillate from various Caribbean producers which they age in their own warehouse facility. Many of these rums are produced using what is called a solero method which blends rums of various ages in single barrels and then continues to age them together to create consistent flavour profiles combining both the complexity of aged rums and the brashness of younger rums together in the aging barrel.
The Rum Howler Blog 