By this point in the summer, we're well into cold brew season. Whether you like it with cream, over ice, or straight up, this is no time for hot coffee. Save that for the day you put your hoodie back on.
Now that the highly-caffeinated stuff has been coursing through your veins for a few months, you may be looking for a few new ways to drink it. Maybe you've considered putting alcohol in it, on a particularly lazy weekend morning or an afternoon when both cold brew and booze are in your fridge. But maybe you're not really into the idea of a chilled Irish Coffee.
Lately it seems like cold brew has been popping up in everything from Tiki drinks to negroni variations. Caitlin Laman, beverage director at the brand spanking new Ace Hotel in Chicago, loves using cold brew in cocktails for its “earthy and fruity coffee notes.” Because it’s so bitter, cold brew is often paired with cane-based rum—that’s where the tiki drinks come in—but Laman has other spirits in mind. Two of her favorites? mezcal and sherry. Here's how to put some booze in your next cold coffee:
Mezcal
Mezcal is tequila’s bolder, smokier cousin—and it plays great with bitter cold brew. Laman likes to amp up the bitter by using a chicory-laced cold brew for her mezcal drinks. (For the uninitiated: chicory is a bitter root often brewed with coffee, particularly in New Orleans). To turn the whole thing into one “damn fine coffee cocktail,” she sweetens it up with horchata, Mexico’s famed sweet, cinnamony, rice-and-nut based drink that you can probably buy at your local fancy grocery store.
For your own mezcal-and-cold brew concoction, add a shot of mezcal to a tall glass with ice, then top with cold brew (bonus points for a chicory cold brew, if you can find one). Give it a stir and add horchata to taste.
Sherry
Laman goes for cream (a.k.a. sweet) sherry, specifically: “It gives cold brew some sweetness while also brightening it up a little bit.” Laman combines cold brew with an oloroso sherry, and adds a splash of creme de cacao and cream to the mix while she’s at it. “The sweetness of the cream cuts the bitterness in the cold brew,” she says, “and you get lots of nutty, dried fruit flavors (from the oloroso) in there which goes so well” with cold brew.
You can tackle something similar at home by filling a tall glass with ice, then adding a shot of sherry and topping it off with cold brew and a quick stir. Either drink this as-is, or add some cream and creme de cacao to taste.