Midnight Mass

2 oz Rum, Scarlet Ibis

3⁄4 oz Cardamaro

1⁄4 oz Bénédictine

1 ds Bitters, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter

1 twst Orange peel

Instructions

Stir all the ingredients over ice, then strain into a coupe. Garnish with the orange twist.

Cocktail summary

Created by

Joaquin Simo, Death & Co.

Year

2009

Is an

authentic recipe

Reference

Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails

Curator

Not yet rated

Average

4 stars

(17 ratings)

Cocktail Book

From other users

Used Flor de Cana. Added the 2 drops of Orange bitters.

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Comments

Made with Mount Gay Eclipse, as I don't have Scarlet Ibis. Harsh at first. Added another 1/4 oz Benedictine, then a dash of chicory-pecan bitters to add some depth, then two dashes of orange bitters.

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I looked at the recipe for "Midnight Mass", and my mouth watered, but I didn't want to go through the hassles of Svenryelsdorn and end up with a less than satisfactory cocktail.

I lacked two essential ingredients for the making of "Midnight Mass". First, I didn't have Scarlet Ibis Rum, so I dug deep into my 20+ bottles of different rums, and decided upon Matusalem Rum (10 year old Cuban-style rum). It turned out to be a delicious choice.

Second, I didn't have Bitter Truth's Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters. Now I had to be creative, because while I had nearly 30 bitters, but I didn't have the right one. I decided to use ONE DASH of Scrappy's Cardamom bitters and TWO DASHES of Dead Rabbit's Orinoco bitters. Once stirred so that it was reasonably cold, I poured it into a large and cold Old Fashion glass with a LARGE ice cube. I then topped it with a large orange twist (after I had expressed the oil on top of the libation). The outcome was a libation with a smooth rum taste, with mild cardamom and various fruit notes, including orange. All in all, a do-able alternative to the ingredients I lacked. I rated this cocktail variation at 4.0.

I hope others might experiment with Midnight Mass' recipe, and comment on their outcomes. This needs to be done when you have a recipe others have enjoyed, but the essential ingredients are hard to come by (or impossible to get), and are, therefore, lacking.

I finally have the Scarlet Ibis and Jerry Thomas bitters to make this to spec. The cocktail is very good, 4 to 4.5/5, the only real weakness being that it is quite sweet. The rum has a peach/apricot flavor in addition to a mild hogo, and this provides a fruitiness to the drink that blends well with the wine and herbs of the Cardamaro--a great pairing. Cardoon provides a bitterness that is somewhat strong when the drink is very cold, but hits its stride as the concoction warms to its optimal mild chill. Benedictine provides a quieter supporting role here.