Black Stripe

Here's a strangely piratical cocktail that's good for warming you up on a winter night. Dark rum is usually made from molasses, and blackstrap rum is made with adding more molasses to the spirit to color it black. This hot drink capitalizes on the black color of molasses to keep the liquid dark after adding boiling water, as well as to add sweetness.

Blackstrap molasses is especially dark and rich. It is bittersweet because it is the sugar residue from processing white sugarcane. Cooking it down longer makes it darker and more bitter. Replacing brown sugar in a hot drink with blackstrap molasses is a good idea because it adds thickness and sugar sweetness.

The recipe says to serve it flaming and to use a spoon to extinguish the flames by stirring the rum topper under the hot water. This is not easily done. You can ignite the rum topper, but it flashes quickly and goes out almost instantly. So maybe just ignite it in front of the drinker for show, but more importantly, singe the cinnamon stick to get it smoking like incense.

• 3 oz. dark rum (Lyon Bijou Batch used)
• boiling water
• 2 tsp. molasses (blackstrap molasses used)
• lemon twist
• cinnamon stick
• fresh grated nutmeg

Add molasses, lemon twist, cinnamon stick and boiling water to a warm mug. Float dark rum on top and ignite. Stir to extinguish the flame and dust with nutmeg.