Halloween at Christmas? An odd enough combo, but it seems to work when Tim Burton gets involved. In his movie, A Nightmare before Christmas, we’re introduced to Jack Skellington, the leader of Halloween Town, who is suffering from a bad case of ennui. Jack accidentally makes his way to Christmas Town where he discovers the joy and festive spirit that his life is missing. He then attempts to bring it to his Halloween brethren but not before Santa gets kidnapped. If only for his general arrogance and selfishness, Jack hits our Advent Calendar's NAUGHTY list.
The flavours for this drink were a little tricky. Jack is the self-proclaimed Pumpkin King so it would make sense to use something pumpkin based and come up with an autumnal cocktail. But we wanted a different flavour profile and decided upon a combination of scotch, to accent Jack's strength of character, and a little bit of peppermint to remind us of his recent understanding of the Christmas season. Plus, the drink is a combination of white and black ingredients which invokes Jack's overall appearance.
Jack Skellington Cocktail Recipe:
- 2 oz scotch
- 2 oz Kahlúa Peppermint Mocha
- 1 oz heavy cream
- 5 dashes of Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters or Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
- old-fashioned glass
Pour the Scotch and the Kahlúa into a cocktail shaker and briefly shake over ice. Pour into the old-fashioned glass. Add the cream to the glass. Gently swirl. Dash in the bitters. Gently swirl again.
Cocktail Notes:
We tried two versions of the cocktail using each of the two bitters listed. While we enjoyed both, the different bitters enhanced different aspects of the drink. The Aztec Chocolate bitters enhanced the mocha flavour of the drink and had a slight peppery heat on the finish. The Black Walnut bitters smoothed out the scotch flavour and brought it to the forefront. Kate appreciated the Chocolate bitters while Drew preferred the Black Walnut bitters. But if you don't have either of these bitters, the drink is great on its own!
For completeness, we also tried Napa Valley Bitters' Coffee Pecan Bitters. They didn't do a lot for the drink and just added an extra-strong coffee note on the end.
If you don’t have Peppermint Mocha Kahlúa, you can substitute ½ ounce of mint schnapps and 1 ½ ounces of regular Kahlúa. Easy on the peppermint - you want it as a background accent and allow the scotch to carry the drink.
The Balvenie we used is a very mellow, caramel-note Speyside scotch. Using something more peaty, like a Lagavulin (an Islay), will likely produce a very different drink.
The development of the cocktail came from a combination of two drinks, the classic White Russian (Kahlúa, vodka and cream) and the Black Dragon (scotch, peppermint schnapps and Kahlúa).
Inspiration:
The scene where Jack arrives in Christmas Town is charming, funny and sing-along-able, thanks to Danny Elfman's kicky music.
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