Top 5 Cinnamon-flavored Cocktails to Try
Who doesn’t love cinnamon? A staple in kitchens everywhere, it’s never far behind the essential seasonings.
The colder weather months are the perfect time to add generous drifts of cinnamon to your morning oatmeal or toast. Did you know cinnamon is also a fragrant flavor to center a delicious drink around? Let’s consider five cinnamon-centric cocktails to sweeten your happy hours up a notch and impress your guests.
5. Winter Citrus Punch
Once you’ve crossed past Daylight Savings Time to greet nightfall before 5:00 pm, the motivation for going anywhere beyond the comforts of your cozy abode dwindles dramatically. But you can still invite visitors to said warm dwelling and indulge in flavor tones from sunnier months while making the best of the frigid ones. The ideal mix for this scenario is Winter Citrus Punch.
Start with 1 ½ oz. of your favorite Irish whiskey and ½ oz. of Monin Cinnamon Syrup. Blend with 1 oz. of grapefruit juice and ½ oz. of lemon juice. Add ice and stir in 1 oz. of club soda. The garnish goes a long way for this drink, so try grapefruit or lemon slices, star anise and cracked pink peppercorn, or all of them. This will reassure you that winter isn’t so bad with the right blend of spices and friends.
4. Winter Old Fashioned
The Old Fashioned is the prime warm and earthy cocktail suited for relaxing near a fireplace and sinking into plush easy chairs after a feast.
Cinnamon syrup is the foundation that takes this Old Fashioned in a special direction past the ordinary standard. The Torani and Monin brands are perennial best-sellers. You can always make your own, choosing from meticulously researched recipes of professional mixologists to quick YouTube tutorials as basic as blending a cinnamon stick with simple syrup, draining away the sediment and letting it sit for 30 minutes. The complimentary key will be a variety of bitters – orange, chocolate, and Angostura.
From your favorite bottle of bourbon or rye whiskey, measure out 2 oz. to combine with ½ oz. of your cinnamon syrup. Augment this with dashes of the three bitters to create the Winter-ized Old Fashioned. A crispy toasted marshmallow makes an unexpected playfully delicious garnish. This drink is equivalent to snow tires on your vehicle – it will get you through the cold. As arguably the most popular cocktail for over two hundred years, the Old Fashioned is always in fashion.
3. Cinnamon Daiquiri
The Daiquiri enjoyed an illustrious history throughout the 20th century. Supposedly an American mining engineer named Jennings Cox working in Cuba first crafted the saccharine delight. Various military and government personnel showed it off to friends and colleagues back home. President Kennedy was a famous fan, as was larger-than-life icon of letters Ernest Hemingway. ‘Papa’ so consistently championed daiquiris that a singular recipe was christened in his honor, the ‘Papa Doble’ or ‘Hemingway Special’.
Before estimating Papa’s forthright commentary on the merits of a Cinnamon Daiquiri, here’s how to assemble your own. A central character is the cinnamon syrup. Introduce ½ oz. of it into the supporting cast of 1 and ¾ oz. of aged rum and ¼ oz. of Grand Marnier cognac. Add ¾ oz. of lime juice plus 3-5 dashes of orange bitters, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Take down a weighty volume from a corner of the bookshelf you’ve overlooked lately or ask your guests what remarkable writing they’ve been reading. Either way, enjoy, and know Papa would be proud.
2. Cinnamon Toast Punch
This drink will appeal to the nostalgia of every cereal-loving adult. The origins of the main ingredient were first imagined by a creative kid who submitted the concept to a General Mills radio contest. Cinnamon Toast Crunch has been a global phenomenon ever since it debuted on store shelves in 1984, averaging over 100 million boxes sold in 2022 in the U.S. alone. The same youthful spirit of creativity inspired Cinnamon Toast Punch. This sugary beverage is descended from Bourbon Milk Punch, a classic New Orleans brunch cocktail.
The first step of this recipe should be almost as fun as savoring the final result. Pour a full bowl and devour it. Resist the natural reaction to down the sugary-cinnamon-soaked milk and save it for the mix. You’ll want about 3 oz. of the cereal milk for the drink. Measure out 2 oz. of bourbon, 1/3 oz. of Jameson Cold Brew and 1 oz. of orgeat syrup. Mix with the milk and add 1 drop of vanilla extract plus 1 dash of black walnut bitters. Shake it, strain it over ice then garnish with a grand pile of fresh cereal.
You’ll want a spoon to enjoy this crunchy cooler!
1. The Jet Pilot
We saved the most high-powered cinnamon-centric cocktail for last. Ranking these recipes is a matter of individual taste, however there’s no denying The Jet Pilot is on an advanced level. Just like you’ll need special training before flying a plane, you’ll need precise attention-to-detail for this concoction. It will be well worth the effort.
Legend has it this high-octane boost was assembled in 1958 at The Luau in Beverly Hills, one of several establishments credited with popularizing Tiki in American culture. What better way to chase off the winter blues than making a Tiki classic with enough kick to make you feel like you’re starring in an action montage from Top Gun?
The Jet Pilot doesn’t require years of bartending practice to craft. The intricacy lies in the list of ingredients, so plug in your blender and pour out careful measurements of the following, starting with an all-star lineup of rum; 1 oz. dark Jamaican rum, ¾ oz. of 151 proof Demerara rum and ¾ oz. of gold Puerto Rican rum. For the next wave add ½ oz. of velvet falernum and ½ oz. of cinnamon syrup. Follow these into the blender with ½ oz. of lime juice and ½ oz. of grapefruit juice. To close out the list, add six drops of pernod, one dash of angostura bitters and 4 oz. of crushed ice.
Do not attempt to operate any machinery more complex than a music playlist after drinking a Jet Pilot or two. It might be advantageous to save the Jet Pilot for a gathering with your trusted friends rather than the office party with your new boss. Once those rum-fueled rocket-boosters kick in, relish the rush and make sure you can land the plane safely.
Hopefully you’ll delight in blending at least one of the above to spice up your home bar when the weather outside gets frightful. Whichever ends up as your favorite, you’ll never think of cinnamon as a breakfast-only bonus, again.
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