How do you celebrate love? Is it through thoughtful actions? Kind words? Physical touch? Time and time again I find that I return to thoughtful actions, often in the form of cooking and making cocktails. A holiday like Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to craft a cocktail to surprise and enchant your partner or friends, but truly this can and should be done any time of the year.

When building a cocktail with the theme of love or romance it’s important to me to make it not stereotypically gendered, something anyone can enjoy even if it may be a spirit they are not as used to. I started this recipe with the flavor inspiration of chocolate covered strawberries while not necessarily being limited to being a dessert cocktail.

For the base I decided on unpeated single malt scotch, a spirit with enough character not to be overshadowed but to complement strong flavors like strawberry and chocolate. To keep the cocktail’s sweetness in check I introduced strawberries as an infusion in the scotch rather than a syrup. I highly recommend having organic strawberries in your freezer for this (Costco is a great cost-effective source) as they’ll be most dependable in ripeness any time of year and texture isn’t a factor when making an infusion. Be sure to use a glass vessel for your infusion (a mason jar will do) and agitate once a day to facilitate progress. Keep it in a dark place and taste and smell along the way until it’s to your liking. Somewhere between 3-7 days should do the trick.

The star of this cocktail is Mozart Milk Chocolate Liqueur - a velvety and indulgent Austrian treat made with Belgian chocolate, cream and Bourbon vanilla. It’s made from a sugar beet distillate and sweetened with sugar from sugar beets as well. This liqueur brought a wonderful richness and depth of chocolate flavor to the cocktail. I further enhanced the vanilla notes with a bit of my favorite cherry bark vanilla bitters.

To round out the drink I added cold brewed milk oolong tea. Milk oolong hails from Taiwan and is known for its creamy buttery taste. It’s absolutely fantastic on its own but is also great to enhance a creamy mouthfeel in a cocktail while keeping it light.

The resulting cocktail is sumptuous but refreshing, with the strawberry, chocolate and vanilla flavors being perfectly balanced by the creamy freshness of the oolong.

A Sumptuous Serenade

2 oz strawberry infused unpeated scotch*
0.5 oz Mozart Milk Chocolate liqueur
1 oz cold brewed milk oolong tea**
1 dropper cherry bark vanilla bitters
Strawberry, for garnish

Add all ingredients other than strawberry to a shaker with ice and shake until chilled and incorporated. Strain into a coupe or martini glass and garnish with a strawberry half on a cocktail pick (use cocktail pick to stir cocktail occasionally to keep it from separating). Serve with chocolate covered strawberries on the side for an extra special treat and enjoy as a celebration of love.

*To make infused scotch, add strawberries and scotch in a 1:2 ratio to a glass jar and put in a dark place. Agitate and taste daily until desired flavor is achieved (3-7 days), then strain before enjoying. Keep in the fridge for better shelf life.

**To make cold brewed tea, add 1 tbsp tea leaves and 8 oz of water to a jar and allow to infuse for 8-12 hours. Strain and keep in the fridge.

Ever since I can remember, I've had a strong love for tea. Fresh, energizing green teas tend to be my favorites, but I've truly enjoyed most varieties I've tried and always look forward to expanding my tea knowledge. Without doubt, I have my father to thank for this appreciation. He's been teaching me about tea since my youth and continues to share new ones that he's discovered. Perhaps you can say that each of our food and beverage loves is a mix of genuine flavor perception and nostalgic or emotional value.

Given my feelings toward tea, I take hot toddies very seriously. The traditional hot toddy is a cocktail made with tea or warm water, liquor, lemon, honey, and optional spices. In my opinion, if all you can get at a bar is a Lipton tea bag with a packet of sugar, a piece of lemon, and a hearty pour of rail whiskey, perhaps grab a beer instead. Hot toddies are a drink to be treasured and appreciated because they allow so much room for experimentation. You can dream up countless combinations by swapping teas and playing with herbal and spirit components. Even the variety of honey you choose plays a pivotal role in the flavor profile of the finished cocktail.

I wanted to take the hot toddy inspiration to a more imaginative level with an unexpected tea, surprising botanicals, a quality spirit, and the use of my favorite type of honey. If all of these ingredients seem daunting, feel free to play around while sticking with the basic rations. Consider starting with a tea and honey you have in your pantry, then work your way to acquiring these specific ingredients if you're hooked on the hot toddy concept.

I started with a base of hot osmathus oolong tea and added Copper and Kings American Craft Brandy, buckwheat honey, fresh lemon and 11th Orchard Birch Bark Bitters. The tea has a buttery sweetness with floral and fruity notes from the osmanthus. It's wonderful enjoyed on its own and really makes this drink shine by creating a smooth and complex foundation. I took special care selecting a smooth spirit to add to the cocktail as serving a drink warm can amp up the bite of sharper varieties. Copper and Kings American Craft Brandy gave me exactly what I wanted - oak-aged smoothness with a hint of fruity spice.

If you've never tried buckwheat honey, I highly recommend you get your hands on it. It's on the dark end of the honey spectrum, almost like a molasses, with a distinctive scent and a rich, nutty, slightly bitter flavor. It's not for everyone but it'll be a game changer in your drinks if you enjoy the taste. I grab mine at a local honey farm in Southern Wisconsin which offers the added bonus of helping with seasonal allergies (eating local honey can help with pollen sensitivity). The honey added smoothness and aroma to this cocktail, blending beautifully with the oolong and brandy.

I finished off the drink with some fresh lemon for balance and a dropper of birch bark bitters for brightness. The bitters are from a new Chicago-based company called 11th Orchard who specialize in locally foraged ingredients that are indigenous to the area. All of their products are fantastic but the birch bark variety really surprised me with its minty sweetness. You won't be able to find these bitters in stores outside of Chicago, but they're available for purchase online.

The resulting cocktail is warming, unbelievable smooth and uplifting with its rich bouquet of fruity, nutty and floral aromatics. If you have a tea set at home, it'll make the presentation even more lovely and special for your guests.

Tea Time

5 oz freshly brewed osmanthus oolong tea
1 oz aged brandy
1 tsp buckwheat honey
0.25 oz fresh lemon juice
15 drops (roughly 1 dropper) birch bark bitters

To make cocktail, brew and strain tea and allow to cool to drinking temperature. Stir in buckwheat honey until dissolved, then add brandy, lemon juice and bitters. Serve in a tea cup and garnish with a fresh or dehydrated lemon slice. Enjoy while savoring the last few weeks of winter and calming your eager anticipation for springtime.

Thanks to Belen Aquino for the stunning cocktail photography and to Gather Vintage Tablescapes for the beautiful vintage tea set.