“It’s an eye-opener or a nightcap,” says Michael Fawthrop as a lift of Bacardi 151 catches on fire, a start of Baptiste Bottle’s Spanish coffee.
While many bartenders are going behind to basics, bearing elementary influenced or jarred classics, Fawthrop, libation executive of Baptiste Bottle, is some-more than happy to make thespian use of humanity’s initial vital achievement: flame.
The Spanish coffee is a cocktail obvious in Portland, Ore. “I credit my father for introducing it to me,” says Fawthrop, who’s still smarting from a new sugarine bake warranted while creation a drink. It’s one of usually a handful prepared tableside from his sailing splash cart, and you’ll compensate handsomely for it; let’s usually say the rich, comfortable splash is a lot easier to swallow than a $25 cost tag, though if you’re prepared to spend, you’re removing a cocktail and a show.
After a Bacardi, resting in a coupe potion rimmed in white sugar, is set cautiously aflame, subsequent adult is a inexhaustible immersion of cinnamon. The ensuing 20 seconds is suggestive of a campfire beating ever aloft into a sky, a red tendrils changeable to blue and behind to red.
Just as a fire starts to caramelize a edge and a room starts to smell of warm, toasted spice, Fawthrop adds Kahlua and Cointreau. The sugarine excitedly crackles and brulees while he plunges a French press of Metropolis coffee and pours it into a coupe; a black glass smothers a fire once and for all. Next, Fawthrop mixes churned cream in a mason jar, tipping it to boyant a skinny sharp on a drink’s surface.
A final develop of cinnamon, and a uncover comes to a tasty end: a initial sip.
The pop of coffee is followed by a smooth, boozy call of any member liquor. There’s also a comforting benevolence of bread pudding, brulee and woody cinnamon, creation this a decadent, coma-inducing cuddle of a drink. Is it for brunch, or is it a post-dinner sip? As Fawthrop said, both is a usually right answer — and possibly way, a snooze is in order.
Baptiste Bottle, 101 E. Erie St., 20th floor, 312-667-6793, www.baptisteandbottle.com
jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @joeybear85
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