Please, not another Christmas drink...

Fear not, no candy cane was injured in the making of this photo! 

I had the opportunity to try my neighbourhood cafe Happy Baristas' new coffee liqueur and figured: great! Now is the time to rattle my brain a little, blow the dust off my bar tools and make myself something nice: because sometimes self-growth, the exercise and inspirational memes in Helvetica light isn't where it's at: this guy also needs a drink. 

One of my favourite gin classics is the Martinez - preferably on the sweet side - so this is what I'm going to use as a base. 

For this one I decided to use the bottles I already have at home which I rarely lay my fingers on and see what I can do. 

The coffee liqueur isn't overly sweet but still brings a lot of weight to the drink so I will opt for kirsch wasser rather than maraschino. As for the gin, I went for something rather classic and slightly over proof, namely Fords Gin. 

Coffee Martinez

40ml Fords Gin 

20ml Carpano Classic 

15ml Happy Baristas Coffee Liqueur (obvious alternative is Mr. Black)

5ml Morand Kirsch Wasser 

3drops Ms Better's Pineapple Star Anis bitters (as an alternative, Giffard Caribbean Pineapple liqueur works too. Don't look at me like that, it's tasty and it's been a rough year)

Now throw all that into your tin, stir it - long enough as it is quite a viscous concoction - and pour into your favourite nick and nora glass. 

Garnish? Yes. Almost never. But this time I went for a few drops of toasted sesame oil because why not, makes me look like a wizard. 

Alright that's it pals, we got ourselves a drink!

Voila,

Damien