Queen City Paloma

I just realized this week that I never posted my Don Julio entry from March's competition!  The competition was "Local Legends," and asked for a local twist on a classic tequila cocktail.

Shortly before the competition was announced, a local chef on my Facebook had decided he wanted to make a local variation on an allspice dram with locally grown spiceberries.  I loved the idea so much, I jumped on the bandwagon myself.  I bought the spiceberries from Carriage House Farm, here in the greater Cincinnati area, and (majorly) adapted a recipe I found through Google.  I'd never made my own liqueur/cordial/dram/etc. before, so this was a great chance to learn something new and expand my skills.

The Spiceberry Dram

First, I knew from the get-go I wanted something more similar to St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram...which is very sweet, and very very good.  The recipe above called for light rum, but I knew that wouldn't ultimately give me what I was going for, so I used Cruzan's Blackstrap rum for my base, to take advantage of the sweetness and richness of the molasses used.

1 cup Cruzan Blackstrap rum
1/4 cup Local Spiceberries or Allspice berries (ground; a good mortar and pestle is essential for infusions)

1/8 cup Whole Clove (ground) 
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole Nutmeg (ground)
1 Vanilla bean

Infuse the spiceberries in the rum for 5-7 days.  Add remaining ingredients and infuse for another 10-12 days. Strain solids from infusion (I use a large strainer and cheesecloth for an initial strain, and the large strainer and coffee filters for a more fine strain). Dissolve 2/3 cup brown sugar (I've used light previously, but dark would probably complement the blackstrap well) with 1.5 cups water in a sauce pan. Let cool and add to infusion. Let settle for two days before use.  Sediment will settle on the bottom of the bottle over time, so be sure to shake a bit before use to reintegrate.

Queen City Paloma

 Glass:  Highball/Collins glass

Method:  Build and Box

Garnish:  Grapefruit wedge

Build:

1.5 oz Don Julio Blanco

1.25 oz Spiceberry dram

1 oz Fresh grapefruit juice 
.5 oz Fresh lime juice 
Pinch Kosher salt 
1.5 oz Club soda

Build ingredients with ice and box between mixing glass and tin three times
to incorporate all ingredients. Garnish with a grapefruit wedge dipped
in a mix of sea salt, ground clove, and ground ancho chile.