NOBODY is suggesting that the cheap bottle of Irish liqueur you buy from the supermarket every Christmas is full of horse, but then the label did say it contained traces of red rum.
These days anything goes.
Pre-bottled chocolate-cream style drinks are full of sugar, starch and emulsifiers anyway (see how we didn't say they were full of Shergar?). And while this stuff won't do you any harm, the consensus in the Liverpool Confidential HQ is that it's far more satisfying to shake up your own Brandy Alexander which, depending on how many you down, has the potential to do just that.
By happy coincidence, mixologists from Victoria Street bar and restaurant The Living Room today unveiled something a little different this Easter, as they introduce a new range of make at home ‘Chocktails’ – cocktails made from chocolate.
They’ve created innovative blends of white, dark, and milk chocolate flavours and spirits to create a mouth-watering range of cocktails "that will delight discerning chocoholics" they say. Not to mention discerning, er, fully functioning regualr drinkers.
Manager Jamie McDiarmid said: “Everyone loves cocktails and chocolate, so when we decided to combine the two we knew we’d be on to a winner.
“Whether you like your chocolate dark and delicious, or white and wicked, this range will take your favourite bar and turn it into something 100 times better.”
With recipes for five bespoke chocktails listed below for you to try at home, you may well want to leave the Easter eggs on the shelves to leave room for these toothsome treats.
Chocolate orange martiniChocolate Orange Martini
Ingredients
15ml Chairmans Reserve Spiced Rum
15ml Grand Marnier
30ml Chocolate Liqueur
75ml mix of cream and milk
Method
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Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake well
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Strain the mixture into the glass
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Garnish with an orange zest
Chocolate Sidecar
25ml Hennessy Fine Cognac
25ml Chocoloate Liqueur
15ml Port
Juice of a whole lime
10ml Sugar Syrup
Method
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Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake well
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Run a lime wedge around the rim of the glass, dip it in chocolate powder
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Strain mixture into glass
Ingredients
25ml Cariel Vanilla Vodka
25ml White Chocolate Liqueur
15ml Cherry Heering
75ml Milk and Cream mixture
Method
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Add all ingredients into a cocktail, fill with ice and shake well
-
Strain mixture into glass
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Garnish with a cherry
Ingredients
30ml Hennessy Fine Cognac
15ml Chocolate Liqueur
75ml Milk and Cream mixture
Method
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Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake well
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Strain mixture into glass
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Garnish with a dusting of ground nutmeg
Ingredients
30ml Stolichnaya Vodka
20ml Chocolate Liqueur
15ml Kaluha
10ml Sugar Syrup
1 Shot of Espresso
Method
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Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake hard to create a foam from the espresso
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Strain mixture into glass
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Garnish with three coffee beans on the foam