Kahlua Drinks of the Week - Dark Knight and Red Star Alexander

Both of the drinks we had last week are from my New Classic Cocktails book, and are the "twist" recipe. And both use Kahlua, which isn't something I'm normally crazy about. Too heavy and cloying for me, as I prefer a sharp, clean drink (like, say, a martini). But these turned out to be excellent drinks, ones I will be sure to revisit in the future.

Dark Knight

• 1 oz. Kahlua
• 1 oz vodka (Stolichnaya)
• 1 oz espresso coffee
• 2 tsp. sugar syrup

Just shake them all together over cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Yummie! I dropped Michael an email, asking him to make up a batch of espresso for this drink, and it was worth the effort. I don't usually do espresso, but he does, so that was handy! It was a twist, obviously enough, on a Black Russian, which is just vodka and Kahlua. This one is better, as there are more liquids in there to cut the Kahlua down to size. In fact, I'd probably add a little more vodka next time, to cut it even more. I like to use Stolichnaya in mixed cocktails, as it is a very good compromise between taste and cost. Much more expensive and it would be a waste to water it down with other mixers, especially something as powerful as Kahlua. But much less and it would wreck the drink.

Red Star Alexander

• 1 oz vodka (Stoli again)
• 1 oz Kahlua
• 1 oz dark creme de cacao
• 1 oz single cream
• grated nutmeg on top

Again, just shake them all up over cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. This was truly a winner! Although I do have to fess up to a couple of changes. First off, I didn't have dark dark creme de cacao, but rather the clear one. No difference there besides color, I don't believe. Of course, it was one of the bottom shelf brands (Arrow), as anything else is impossible to find. But the drink stood up to artificial taste very well.

I also didn't use light cream, but rather whole milk. As a skim milk drinker, I think whole milk is thick enough; not sure I could have done light cream. And Michael said he could do without the nutmeg, although I like it, especially on my eggnog. This one really went down easily. I could see several of them going down and man, the pain the next day would be a brutal reminder of the overdose! This one is a twist on the White Russian, which is basically a Black Russian, with milk or cream. I can envision several variations on this. Maybe adding the milk/cream to the Dark Knight. Or even a splash of an orange curaçao.

We then finished up the next two episodes of Nowhere Man, #2 and #3. They weren't too bad, although the premise in general requires a huge suspension of disbelief, and so far there seems to be too many "Now why the heck would he|they|them do that?" feelings. Like in the 3^rd episode, where for some reason, while on the run from some rogue military unit, they headed back to some old house in the swamp where Thomas Veil had almost been gunned down, only to hide in a hidden cellar. Very weird. But maybe we'll try one more DVD worth.