As as ski bum bartender in Beaver Creek ('92-94) I used to bartend in the warming hut where people would wait for a snow cat to bring them up to dinner at Beano's Cabin on the mountain. My regular shifts were just below in the long-gone, slope-side Covered Bridge Cafe. Boozy hot chocolate was my first real "mixology platform". My Long Island Hot Chocolate was a big hit each year and pretty much defined "boozy hot chocolate". (It's also where I discovered Chartreuse and hot chocolate, though Jägermeister was having it's heyday at the time, and also works nicely.) Years later, while studying in France and Switzerland ( winter '97) I took on a serious Kirshwasser Hot chocolate habit. And later still, while spending my 40th birthday with Ron Cooper in Oaxaca (2008), we made cocoa balls with cooked espadin and gifted them to his friends' altars for Dia de los Muertos - and drank mezcal-laced hot chocolate at the market, a habit I still have. And finally, it all culminated in the winter of 2021 when we were serving hot drinks to go out the front door of Elixir, in order to stay in business. The hot chocolate menu was extensive, and now, with the close of our holiday menu, they're coming back. Stop by. (I like mine with Cheery Heering and a touch of amaretto.)
I would try with schnapps/grappa or palinka as they are readily available here in Europe. Fernet and Branca Menta would be harder to find. Chartreuse would likely be a wild goose chase I think at this point in time. Cheers!
Chocolate and mint is a favorite flavor combo of mine so I am intrigued by the hot chocolate/Fernet mix!
As as ski bum bartender in Beaver Creek ('92-94) I used to bartend in the warming hut where people would wait for a snow cat to bring them up to dinner at Beano's Cabin on the mountain. My regular shifts were just below in the long-gone, slope-side Covered Bridge Cafe. Boozy hot chocolate was my first real "mixology platform". My Long Island Hot Chocolate was a big hit each year and pretty much defined "boozy hot chocolate". (It's also where I discovered Chartreuse and hot chocolate, though Jägermeister was having it's heyday at the time, and also works nicely.) Years later, while studying in France and Switzerland ( winter '97) I took on a serious Kirshwasser Hot chocolate habit. And later still, while spending my 40th birthday with Ron Cooper in Oaxaca (2008), we made cocoa balls with cooked espadin and gifted them to his friends' altars for Dia de los Muertos - and drank mezcal-laced hot chocolate at the market, a habit I still have. And finally, it all culminated in the winter of 2021 when we were serving hot drinks to go out the front door of Elixir, in order to stay in business. The hot chocolate menu was extensive, and now, with the close of our holiday menu, they're coming back. Stop by. (I like mine with Cheery Heering and a touch of amaretto.)
I would try with schnapps/grappa or palinka as they are readily available here in Europe. Fernet and Branca Menta would be harder to find. Chartreuse would likely be a wild goose chase I think at this point in time. Cheers!