California Creole

Drinks that have a lot of different ingredients look impressive on paper. They also look impressive as you are mixing them, when you are working with 8 or 12 different bottles just for one drink. Some of these complex drinks are very delicious, while others are primarily for show. When you start with flavorful, high-quality ingredients, you can – and should – keep things simple if you want to get the best results. The California Creole is a cocktail that has a very short ingredient list, but the ingredients used are so high quality that the finished drink ends up tasting much more complex than some cocktails with double the number of ingredients.

The cocktail starts out with equal parts of Clement Creole Shrubb and St George California Agricole Rum, brightened up with a little fresh lime juice and a touch of simple syrup. Clement’s Creole Shrubb starts with a base of rhum agricole that is infused with orange peels and spices. You’ll smell notes of fresh orange peel as soon as you open the bottle, and the citrus is even more intense when you taste it. It is delicious, but it can overpower other ingredients easily. The St George Agricole, however, is a fantastically funky rum that can easily stand up to the powerful flavor of the Shrubb. Neither element dominates the other, resulting in a cocktail that is exceptionally complex and lets both of these ingredients shine through in every sip.

You could serve this mix over crushed ice, but we prefer to serve it straight up in a coupe, garnished with a wheel of lime. If you don’t have an extra lime, an orange twist would also be a nice finishing touch.

California Creole
1 oz St George California Agricole Rum
1 oz Clement Creole Shrubb
1/2 oz lime juice
1/4 oz simple syrup

Shake ingredients with ice and then strain into a chilled cocktail coupe.

Serves 1.