Witch Doctor’s Brew

When you picture a witch’s brew, you probably picture a cauldron that is bubbling over with smoke from either fire or dry ice. The witch doctor serves up his potions in a slightly more refined manner, replacing all that smoke with an egg white that gives this Witch Doctor’s Brew cocktail a foamy head and a creamy consistency.

For this cocktail, we knew we wanted something red with an unexpected flavor, so Campari was a natural choice. We added triple sec both to counter the Campari’s bitterness and support its orange flavor, as well as Cherry Herring for more fruit and color. Once we were set with the base, we made sure that the rums would preserve that gorgeous color. While a funkier run might make an interesting variation on this recipe, a combination of white and spiced rums are going to give you a good flavor and a bright red cocktail. We used El Dorado 3 year white rum and El Dorado spiced rum. Their spiced rum is intensely flavored and adds a nice punch of spice to the drink. Other spiced rums can be used, but some are quite a bit sweeter, so you might find you need to cut back on the honey syrup a bit if this is the case. The result is a cocktail that is bittersweet, with layers of orange, lemon and honey. We used Giffard orgeat (our favorite brand), which has a great floral note that works beautifully in this recipe.

Not only does the egg white add a creaminess to the drink the frothy head is perfect for adding a stencil to the cocktail. Our finishing touch was a crescent moon made by misting Angostura bitters. The Angostura gives the cocktail a great aroma. We opted for the crescent because it’s an easy stencil to make and it translates well to the finished cocktail. If you happen to have a skull-shaped stencil, feel free to go for that instead.

Witch Doctor’s Brew
1 1/2 oz El Dorado 3 yr white rum
1/2 oz El Dorado spiced rum
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz triple sec
1/4 oz orgeat (pref. Giffard)
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey syrup
1 egg white
Angostura bitters, for stencil

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Add ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice cubes. Allow the egg white foam to settle, the place stencil on top of the drink and mist with Angostura bitters.