AT THE BAR — Dessert-Inspired Cocktails

BY ELYSE GLICKMAN Creamy frozen coconut margaritas rimmed with sweetened shredded coconut.

A coffee cocktail that borrows ingredients from tres leches cake.

A spiked alcoholic beverage that mimics horchata and comes in a chocolate-and-cookie crumb-rimmed glass.

Those are just a few examples of dessert-inspired cocktails that celebrate Latin American culinary traditions – drinks that can double as desserts and sweeten your bottom line, too.

Frozen Coconut Margaritas

PHOTO FROM HUNGERTHIRSTPLAY.COM

Classic Latin American desserts and beverages (think tres leches cake, flan, horchata and Mexican hot chocolate) are natural starting points for dessert cocktails.

At Reyes Mescaleria in Orlando, Florida, for example, Beverage Director Lorena Castro borrows components from the dessert menu behind the bar, where she turns to tres leches milk to craft the Night Owl – her take on an Espresso Martini.

“Instead of vodka, we utilize Ilegal Mezcal Reposado paired with coffee liqueur and the house made tres leches milk mixture that we normally use for a dessert called Güera Cake [a combination tres leches cake and flan],” says Castro. Topping off the cocktail: a sprinkle of Abuelita Chocolate dust.

Also on the Reyes Mescaleria menu: the Chai-Chata: chai spice-infused Espolòn blanco, Ancho Reyes, Southern Amaro, Giffard banana and house made horchata – a cocktail the restaurant’s Instagram post claims, “The best way to finish your

Reyes Mescaleria’s The Night Owl

FIVE 55’s Dirty Horchata

Reyes Mescaleria’s Chai-Chata meal tonight!”

Abuelita Chocolate also is the go-to dessert ingredient in the popular cocktail To Abuela’s House We Go at The Fairmont Grand del Mar in San Diego. Spiked with Avion Reposado Tequila and Licor 43 liqueur, the drink is reminiscent of the iconic holiday song, according to Christopher Bureau, beverage manager and sommelier.

“We drew inspiration from the amazing Hispanic culture ingrained in the San Diego region for an adult version of the beloved winter beverage,” Bureau explains. “Blending culture with mixology is what makes this cocktail special, and my favorite for this time of year.”

At Five55 in Monterey Park, California, lead bartender Nicholas Jackson creates the Dirty Horchata, a mix of whisky, Irish Cream, and Bananas Foster Liqueur served in a chocolaterimmed glass garnished with a cookie crumb rim and lightly sprinkled with grated cinnamon. It is Jackson’s creative rendition of the creamy Mexican rice milk drink, and works well with Latin-inspired fare, he reports.

Cocktails that incorporate fruit with spirits like tequila, whiskey, rum and mezcal also can be the sweet finales to a delicious Mexican dinner.

As Castro says of dessert cocktails, “...they don’t always have to be sweet and creamy. A well-balanced cocktail using a digestif can be very appealing after a meal.”

Consider the fruit-forward Flor de Mayo mezcal cocktail at Oh! Mexico restaurant in Miami Beach. Reniel Garcia, beverage manager of the restaurant’s parent, Miami-based V & E Restaurant Group, says guests frequently order the Flor de Mayo as a dessert cocktail because of “the mix of fruits, including fresh pureed mango, and agave nectar...and the freshness of mint combined with fresh lime juice and cranberry juice, which make it both sweet and strong at the same time.”

At the Hilton in Cartegena, Colombia, Fabian Chacón, food & beverage manager, says the menu is primarily focused on signature cocktails, done in a sherbet dessert style that blends local fruits and compatible spirits (rum is a favorite). “We combine local fruits like corozo, maracuya (passion fruit), and mango with a base spirit and house-made sour mixes,” Chacón says.

In this era of Instagrammable dishes, one picture can be worth 1,000 words — so it makes sense for bar pros to give dessert cocktails star treatment.

“A good photo will always be like the first sip,” Garcia says. “Social media is absolutely the way to go when promoting dessert cocktails.”

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If you want to add a cocktail that originated in Spain and has become a favorite in Mexico, try the Carajillo. Mexican Food Journal describes the Carajillo as “an integral part of restaurant culture in Mexico, particularly in Mexico City” that is “served as an after-dinner digestif or as a dessert course.” The drink features espresso and Licor 43, a Spanish vanilla liqueur made with citrus and fruit juices and 43 aromatic herbs and botanicals. Torrence Swain, the east coast regional director for El Silencio, advises bartenders to put a unique spin on the cocktail to create signature recipes. “By introducing new flavor components to a traditional coffee cocktail with spirits like mezcal, with its more complex flavor profile, what was once a post-dinner cocktail becomes a fixture for both day and night, to be enjoyed hot or cold,” he says.

The Vito’s Coldbrew at Basque-inspired SASA in Pasadena ups the Carajillo’s profile by adding bourbon to the espresso and Licor 43, then topping the cocktail with orange cream and churro dust. The cocktail was newsworthy enough to be featured in PureWow, a digital publication that showcased the drinks in the feature “Where to Sip Coffee Cocktails in LA.”

Ruben Plascencia, general manager at La Bodeguita De Mima Cuban Restaurant & Bar in Louisville, Kentucky, understands the importance of presentation.

“We aim to be a part of making memories and a real experience, and that centers on outstanding presentation,” says Plascencia, who says one of the restaurant’s most popular, Instagrammable cocktails is the Santeria. The 38-ounce, flower-sprinkled cocktail-for-two is an eye-catching combination of red wine, spiced rum, brandy, agave and hibiscus, plus lemon and lime slices that arrives bubbling and smoking thanks to the addition of a little dry ice.

Making sure customers know the cocktails that work well as after-dinner sipping is important, too.

Strategies include creating a standalone dessert menu that includes cocktails, cordials and coffees, and incorporating dessert cocktails into the specials of the day, Garcia adds.

Elyse Glickman, a Los Angeles-based freelance writer who specializes in writing about the beverage industry, is the regular At the Bar columnist for el Restaurante.