The Carolina Dessert

I actually bartend exactly one time a year, for our company Christmas party. I got the gig because I like to mix drinks, and because the former bartender outranks me in the company. I don't mind, as it's a great way to see everyone at the party, but it's a bit against nature for me. A lot of my mixology and cooking interest probably comes from my fondness for chemistry, but chemistry is more task-oriented than your typical bartending gig. I like to mix drinks, and play with ingredients, but then some yahoo shows up and wants something to drink that I have no interest in making, and just because they have money, and my employer wants said money, I have pry myself away from a fascinating comparison of gins to take the cap off of your stupid bottle of–well, you get the idea.

Every year, I try to pack in a few things to not get bored. This year's crop of rum punch came in pretty well (I've been playing with hard ciders as my "weak" base for rum punches), and a few people discovered the joy of Old Fashioned with Rittenhouse rye and homemade brandied cherries (canned by Julie, using fresh Michigan cherries and Michigan brandy). Julie also provided the usual amazing array of Jello and pudding shots (which we're due to feature here again, at some point, methinks). There was some other combinatorial playing, but nothing too noteworthy

But the star of the evening is a story that starts in Atlanta, Georgia. My cohort in crime on this adventure was Dan, and we're doing the convention thing in downtown Atlanta. For dinner one night, we ended up at Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint, which met our four basic requirements for travel dinner:

• Walking distance there
• Staggering distance back
• Smells good from the sidewalk
• Open

I'm not proud, but I'm not apologizing.

Turns out, we went back again before we left, as the food was very good, and the drinks were equally excellent. Their menu breathlessly exclaimed "the only legal moonshine in Atlanta!" (no longer the case, but read on). The couple of drinks featuring "moonshine" were great–a dessert coffee drink, and a lemonade with soaked blueberries. After our first dinner, we asked to try the "moonshine" straight.

Okay, let's take a minute so that I can stop using the damn quotes. I KNOW that what they served was not moonshine. I know that what you buy in stores labeled moonshine is almost universally not moonshine. Moonshine is made in the backhills of Appalachia, bottled into repurposed 5-gallon tubs, using stills made from recycled automotive parts and scrap metal, and taking on the characteristics of the environment in which it is distilled (dirt, insects and Ford truck exhaust, mostly). I remain very interested in trying the real article, but I'm not going to type "diluted unaged commercial corn whiskey" when "moonshine" gets me in the general neighborhood with a lot fewer letters.

What we were served was Catdaddy–80 proof, cinnamon-infused, and my first taste of the sweetness and mellowness of corn whiskey. Purists be damned, I quite liked the taste, and have kept a bottle around the house ever since. And, for the holiday party, I was pretty sure I could find some others to enjoy it as well. Sure enough, the subject came up and the bottle was pulled out.

That said, I felt like playing a little bit, and decided to apply two additional flavors. For all the explosion in craft bitters, there's still a place on my shelf for the tried-and-true Angostura bitters, with its signature sweet citrus and herbal notes. But, my new bitters darling is Mozart Chocolate Bitters, which provides the clearest, cleanest dry cocoa note you can imagine. The Mozart has been a bit of an obsession for me, as I've been playing with it in the same way you'd use cocoa to darken and dimensionalize chili or apple butter. That said, it also seemed like a good fit for a spirit that starts as sweet and bright as Catdaddy does.

And oh boy, was the result good. Tasting it gave me that immediate rush of "this is a keeper recipe." It's simple–really only one alcohol and two bits of flavoring, and I apologize in advance for using an ingredient that is currently not commonly available in the U.S. Doesn't matter–find an importer, get a bottle of the Mozart bitters, track down Catdaddy (fairly widely available), and try this little concoction.

Carolina Dessert

1 oz. Catdaddy spiced moonshine (chilled)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes Mozart chocolate bitters

Shake briefly with ice to chill. Serve in an apertif glass.