By that, we mean turning up the heat on your winter cocktails with a spicy twist of inspiration that’s sure to give an almighty kick (in the best kind of way).
If you’re the type that always adds hot sauce or chillies to your meals, you’ll definitely want to start dialling up the heat to your favourite drinks with some quick and simple tweaks. Scotch and spice are the perfect combo, and you can use these ideas as a starting point for your own ideas for a night-time sip with a lot more character.
Read on for some sure-fire ways to ramp up the flavour profile.
Spiced Maggie cocktail recipe
The dawn of the 21st century saw the rise of one of the hottest new cocktails: the spicy Margarita. Inspired by this superstar, the Spiced Maggie cocktail blends together the perfect amount of sweet, sour and spice for a drink you’ll keep coming back to. Go easy on the hot sauce if you’re a chilli newbie, but if you’re used to the heat, dare to add a little more.
Ingredients:
45ml Chivas Extra 13 Tequila Cask
10ml Muyu Vetiver liqueur
20ml lime juice
15ml of sugar syrup
1.25ml Valentina Hot Sauce
Method:
Stir the Muyu Vetiver liqueur, Chivas Extra 13 Tequila Cask, lime juice and sugar syrup into a glass. Add the hot sauce (feel free to adjust this amount according to taste) and ice, then garnish with half a lime.
Hot Sauce & Citrus cocktail recipe
While we don’t recommend adding spice to every single drink out there (there’s a line), sour style drinks are the perfect home for a dash of the good stuff. Get creative and add a touch of hot sauce to your favourite sour cocktails such as the classic Whisky Sour or flip the script with the fruit-packed Tropical Chivas Sour. Sour cocktails already have a fresh kick to the flavour, so adding your favourite hot sauce takes it to a whole new level - the combination of sour citrus and zingy hot sauce gives an earthy, peppery hint to each sip.
Of course, finding the right balance is important. A few drops of hot sauce is enough to bring those flavours to the front of your attention, but you don’t want to be left reaching for endless glasses of water or milk in an attempt to cool the fire. That’s a sign you’ve gone too far..
Chivas Thai Pina Colada cocktail recipe
Found yourself daydreaming of basking on a tropical beach with a drink in hand? You’re not alone. Once you snap back to a less-sunny reality, reach for a Chivas Thai Pina Colada to take you straight back in one sip. This coconut cream-heavy cocktail is light enough that you don’t need to be a professional fire-breather, but still delivers a satisfying kick.
Ingredients:
50ml Chivas Extra 13 Rum Cask
30ml pineapple juice
25ml lime juice
20ml sweet coconut cream
Dash of hot sauce
Method:
Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice for approximately 10 seconds. Then strain into a tall glass with ice, add a pineapple slice garnish and serve.
Chivas El Diablo cocktail recipe
Ginger and whisky is a relationship to last a lifetime. It’s not only hot sauce that can deliver an intense kick; this spice is another all-natural ingredient you can use to add a little fire to your drink. It has a different flavour profile to chilli and works best when balanced out with a touch of sweetness.
Ingredients:
45ml Chivas Extra 13 Sherry
15ml Crème de Cassis
20ml lime juice
Ginger beer
Method:
Shake the Chivas Extra 13 Sherry, crème de cassis and lime juice with ice, then strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with a wedge of lime.
Spiced Orange Highball cocktail recipe
If you sit on the milder end of the spice chart, we recommend the Spiced Orange Highball. While a more gentle option, it provides a deliciously warming cocktail experience - and proves cinnamon is a spice that’s definitely not just for Christmas.
Don’t stop here. You can bounce off all these ideas to incorporate your favourite spices and hot sauces to a variety of cocktails. A bit of trial and error and you could come up with a creation that your friends rave about for years.
