Libation of the Month
Field of Jasmine
Where to Find it
Chesapeake & Maine
316 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach 226-3600
Earlier this year, during Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s annual Weekend of Compelling Ales & Spirits, customers couldn’t get enough of mixologist Ryan Warwick’s fanciful and fortified cocktail. Field of Jasmine features Dogfish Head’s Barrel Honey Rum, fermented with “Doggie yeast” and sweetened with grade A molasses and local honey. The rum is aged in “char level 3” American oak barrels, which infuse it with caramel, brown sugar, and toffee flavors.
Warwick adds jasmine-tea pearls-a green tea rolled into small, pearl-like shapes-and lets them steep for up to 30 minutes before straining the rum through a coffee filter. He then makes a mint-honey syrup-20 ounces of water combined with 6 ounces of honey. Once the syrup warms up on the stove, he tosses in 15 grams of fresh mint leaves, removes it from the heat, covers it for 30 minutes, and strains it.
He mixes the finished blends with three dashes of black lemon bitters in a julep or rocks glass that is two-thirds full of ice.
Labor intensive? Maybe. But the first sip delivers a sweet reward.
Related: 8 Craft Cocktail Lounges With Incredible Vibes in Delaware
