In the last few posts, I’ve focused on blood orange. First I offered the Desert Orange, a “margarita for winter” of sorts. Next I featured the Blood Moon Cocktail, a light and somewhat spicy drink for enjoying astronomical events or really any occasion. And in my post previewing March cocktail events in the District, I promised a recipe featuring an edible hibiscus garnish. This is that post. To help put you in the mood for spring I offer you a blood orange daiquiri:
The daiquiri has a special significance for me. It was nearly a decade ago at the Columbia Room – when it was still just a backroom in the old Passenger – that Derek Brown first taught me (and a roomful of other guests) how to make one according to the traditional recipe: 2 ounces of aged rum, and 3/4 ounces each of simple syrup and lime juice.
It was life-altering. I had taken a bartending class in college, where we learned that daquiris were frozen drinks made with rail rum and sour syrup. The traditional recipe was so much better, and it re-awakened my interest in mixing drinks.
So I thought it fitting to celebrate the arrival of spring with a fresh take on the classic that marked a spring of sorts in my drink-crafting hobby. I started with aged rum (Appleton 12-year) and used freshly squeezed blood orange juice in place of the usual lime. Blood orange juice is sweeter than lime juice of course, so I dialed back the sugar. (In this case, the syrup was hibiscus flower syrup, about which more in a minute.) I also added Campari and Calvit’s Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus shrub.
The garnish has two parts. The base is a blood orange wheel, placed horizontally on top of the crushed ice that fills the glass. On top, I placed an edible hibiscus flower from Wild Hibiscus Flower Co., which offers the flowers in syrup (which, as I noted above, I used as a substitute for simple syrup). Although it isn’t depicted above, I also added a paper straw. (The garnish looks great but isn’t easy to sip around.)
I had a lot of fun with this drink. As daiquiris tend to do for me, this one went down fast. Let me know what you think!
Here’s the recipe:
Blood Orange Daiquiri
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz. aged rum
- 1/2 oz. Campari
- 1 oz. freshly squeezed blood orange juice
- 1/4 oz. Calvit's Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus Drinking Shrub
- 1/4 oz. Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. syrup
- 1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
- 1 dash Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Cocktail Shrub
- blood orange wheel
- Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. edible hibiscus flower
Instructions
- Combine the rum, Campari, juice, shrubs, syrup and bitters in a shaking tin and set aside.
- Fill a rocks glass with crushed ice.
- Add ice to the shaking tin, shake contents vigorously and strain into the rocks glass.
- Garnish by laying a blood orange wheel horizontally atop the drink and placing an edible hibiscus flower on top of the wheel.
- Add a paper straw, trimmed as necessary.