About
This cocktail was created by Jake Powell (@jakebehindbars) in 2022 and is one of his favorite cocktails he has made. It had been on my list to make for a while, so I was especially excited to finally get to it as part of paid work with Zacapa. Jake built the drink as a rum Old Fashioned around the flavors of coffee and sweet plantain.
Zacapa No. 23 is the anchor here, bringing a deep, sherry-like sweetness that works naturally with the coffee and banana. Jake drew inspiration from the pairing of Zacapa and Punt e Mes in Phil Ward’s Black Prince, then added aromatic bitters and saline to keep everything in balance.
The most interesting part is how he incorporated the coffee. Jake originally freezer-batched the cocktail and measured the dilution in advance, replacing the water normally used for batching with cold brew.Cheers y’all!
Ingredients
- 1½ oz · 45 mlZacapa No. 23 Rum
- ¼ oz · 7.5 mlPunt e Mes
- ½ oz · 15 mlcold brew coffee, for dilution
- 1 tsp · 5 mlbanana liqueur
- ½ tsp · 2.5 mldemerara syrup
- 1 dashAngostura bitters
- 1 dropsaline solution
- orange peel oil
Method
- 1
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass (or make a larger batch).
- 2
Refrigerate until chilled.
- 3
Strain into a rocks glass over large-format ice.
- 4
Express orange peel oil over the surface.
- 5
Garnish with an orange twist.
anatomyofadrink.com/cocktails/wizard-in-black