#roxtails for the holidays 2024

If you are wondering how to utilize your ingredients from the #roxtails for the holidays kit , and what cocktails to make with them…you’ve come to the right place!

In this first video, I’ll walk you through what’s in your kit.

BOOZY HOT COCOA

Who doesn’t love hot cocoa during the holidays? How about making it a delicious, indulgent and BOOZY Hot Cocoa? Good plan, right?

I’ve prepared some hot cocoa in the video below, but consider this a starting place. You may easily adjust any of the ratios to your personal preference…more or less cocoa…more, less, or no whiskey…with milk (heavenly)…you can add a little more sugar if you like yours sweeter.

My personal favorite touch for Boozy Hot Cocoa is to add a little Tempus Fugit Crême de Cacao…and a few dashes of Portland Bitters Project Pitch Dark Cacao Bitters. I’ve been experimenting - I also like amaretto as an alternative to the crème de cacao, topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of salted caramel. Yyyyyummmm!

Honey Apple Brown Butter Old Fashioned

Well that sounds exciting…doesn't it?!

One of the primary reasons I like to do these kits it to give people the opportunity to do something they might not normally do with cocktails at home. My guidance here is to make a fun twist on an old fashioned that requires just a little prep work. For this cocktail, I highly recommend making brown butter and “fat washing” bourbon (see video below). Can you make this cocktail without the brown butter step? Sure, but it won’t be quite the same. That’s also part of the fun of these kits…exploring and mixing and matching.

For the Brown Butter Bourbon/Whiskey

Part one of the following video walks you through browning butter and fat washing your whiskey.

You will need

  • 1 stick of butter (8 tbsp/4oz) - preferably unsalted

  • 16 oz of whiskey (this can be bourbon or rye, I liked a high rye bourbon around 100 proof - like Old Grand-Dad Bonded)

  • a heat/cold proof container

  • a strainer

  • a coffee filter (a pour over system/filter works really well)

Melt/heat your butter. Control your temperature - the higher it is the faster it will go and don’t get distracted. Use a heat safe spatula and stir continuously. It will liquefy, foam and sizzle. As the foam subsides start watching for little brown specks to appear. Once you see those browned butter solids - turn off the heat and remove your butter from the heat source.

Now, add your whiskey to the hot brown butter. Stir to combine, cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours. Next, move your mixture to the freezer. Allow this to stay in the freezer around 8 hours or over night. The butter will solidify/freeze and you can now strain it from the whiskey. I also like to do a final pass through a coffee filter. Finally, bottle your brown butter whiskey and store it in the fridge.

For the Honey Syrup

Part two of the video walks you through making hot honey syrup.

You will need

  • 1.5 oz Mike’s Hot Honey

  • 0.75 oz hot water

Simply use a scale to measure out your honey, add your measure of water and stir to combine.

The final part of the video shows you how to put it all together.

Enjoy!