Signature drink: First trial

For years, I've wanted a signature drink for Burnt Sugar Blues, and tonight I tasted an excellent contender!   At the Depot Brewery, I asked bartender Paul Wheeler if he liked making up new drinks.   Ready for fun, he said, "Sure!" and listened to my wish.

I said
(1) the band's name is Burnt Sugar Blues;
(2) I like chocolate; and
(3) the drink ought to have a burnt sugar taste, maybe like caramel.

He thought for a moment, then shook together a combo of Baileys Irish Cream, Kahlua, and DiSaronno with half-n-half to make a sweet frothy delight that goes down soooo easy ~~ smooth and smokin' ~~ just like our sound!

Is it luck or is it fate that Mr Wheeler chose liqueurs I've had on my own shelves at home?   Maybe he's psychic.   That would explain a lot.   It would especially explain the coffee part of Kahlua ~~ because although I didn't mention coffee, the lyrics of the band's name song, Burnt Sugar Blues, include coffee (along with chocolate, sugar, burnt sugar, lollipops, and honey).

As I sipped, I sorted through the symbolisms . . . .

Before I put my feet up to experiment with symbolic drinks, I cut a rug with George Hrebar while collecting cover charge at the door for the band, Dr Blade's Blues. The other two dancers shown here in the foreground are Thomas Selleck and Jennifer Nelson.  (photo by James Moore)

Blues ~~ 

Irish whiskey is renowned for drowning sorrows.   I guess the Irish have a lot of sorrows to drown.   Anyway, Irish whiskey seems related to pick-me-up times with pick-me-up friends, like the blues are.

(As a total tangent, my name "Welty" traveled through Ireland on its way from Switzerland to North America.)

Chocolate ~~ 

From the Baileys Irish Cream website, I learned this: "The distinct style of Baileys is derived from a unique proprietary cocoa extract recipe giving Baileys its chocolate character and essence."

Three hundred some flavors accompany coffee's aroma, so Kahlua's contribution includes chocolatey impressions, too.

Burnt Sugar ~~ 

Sugar cane itself is the basis for the rum in Kahlua, along with roasted arabica coffee beans.   Roasting coffee develops yet another aromatic carbon ring of burnt sugar.

Veracruz, where Kahlua is grown and blended, is on the Gulf coast of Mexico, where Spanish, African, and Caribbean cultures have coexisted for centuries.   Burnt Sugar Blues puts Afro-Cuban and Latin rhythms with midwestern roots, so I feel a correspondence there.

All liqueurs involve transforming sugar resulting in a carbon ring giving the impression of burnt sugar, some more than others.   Disaronno's legend claimed it was an 'infusion of apricot kernel oil with "absolute alcohol, burnt sugar, and the pure essence of seventeen selected herbs and fruits"' (although in spite of its past as an "amaretto," no almond is included.)

I like the impression of herbs and fruits.   It sounds like a tonic with those essences.

Caramel ~~

Half-n-half, along with Baileys cream, smoothes the flavors into a luscious caramel.   Caramel is, after all, just perfectly browned sugar and cream.



For next time, I'll try it with the ice strained out after shaking, just because I'm a no-ice kinda drinker.   I'll report further experimentations as they happen.

Cheers to great beginning!