The school year is in full swing, Boozers. We’ve seen hordes of little ones marching off in search of naptime and enlightenment, armed with shiny new backpacks and toothy grins. The sight has harkened us back to an earlier time when we drooped soporifically at the school bus stop in the pre-dawn hours, sipping from a styrofoam cup of Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink. Ah, we can almost taste the powdered chocolatey goodness.
The appearance of the “adult milkshake” on many menus has given barflies a chance to relive their favorite childhood flavors with a grown-up twist, like the Dirty Girlscout and the Bailey’s Caramel Macchiato. So we started to think, what if a classic breakfast drink were reimagined as a creamy cocktail? Hence, the Breakfast of Champions. We might not actually recommend it for breakfast if you’ve got an 8 a.m. meeting scheduled with the boss, but it could be a tasty way to start off the weekend.
Breakfast of Champions
For our homage to liquid breakfast nutrition, we chose to combine a nutty soy or almond milk with a smooth rye whiskey for a truly eye-opening brunch cocktail. To provide a little contrast, and to aid digestion, we opted to toss in some bitters — in this case, The Bitter Truth’s Chocolate Bitters or Cocktail Kingdom’s Coffee Bitters provide just the right counterpoint.
1/2 cup chilled almond or soy milk (plain, unsweetened)
1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces rye whiskey (we like Catoctin Creek’s Organic Roundstone Rye)
2 tablespoons light agave nectar (add more or less to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
chocolate or coffee bitters
3 ice cubes
Make a slurry of the cocoa powder, rye whiskey, agave nectar, and instant coffee, mixing until well-combined. Pour the slurry and the almond or soy milk into a blender, then add the ice cubes and blend on high for a minute or two until the ice cubes are completely incorporated (no large chunks). Stir in a few dashes of bitters and pour into a chilled glass.
Good Booze 