mmm, butter...

The conservative drinker will probably never try a Hot-Buttered-Rum. Well, that's too bad, my unadventurous friend.

For the rest of us, this cocktail is a combination of ingredients that speaks directly to the heart (or heart attack). It has the warmth and fuzziness of grandma's house, with an apple pie in the oven and a fluffy cat on the window.

It has rum, traditionally a New England specialty, now mostly imported from the Caribbean. Here at UpStairs we make it with a combination of Blackstrap and Spiced rums that balance each other in a way that only rum can (try mixing Scotch and Bourbon and you'll see what I mean).

It has sugar. We use our demerara syrup, with tons of raw cane flavor as opposed to, you know, plain sugar. Life is just too short for plain sugar in our Hot-Buttered-Rums. If you're using apple cider, you can skip the sugar altogether but I recommend leaving the cider in a quiet corner (for another time) and letting the sugar/spice/butter do the talking. So a little hot water will help bring everything together and a little Sezchuan pepper adds another layer to every sip (think of it as bitters in a Manhattan). A less exotic spice can be used: cloves and cinnamon are just fine, but I find that the complex and delicate heat of the Sezchuan peppercorns sprinkled on top of the drink seasons the cocktails' familiar flavors with a hint of something a little less trivial. It lifts Grandma's house out of the suburbs and lands it in Vineyard Haven.

Then, there's the butter. Sinners will think of using anything other than real, unsweetened butter. But I am not easily tempted into such evildoing, so if you order one from me, expect a nice inch thick cube of butter to be floated into the cocktail at the very moment of serving. It will be left to melt as you drink, not stirred into the cocktail.
I don't expect hot-buttered-rums to become the next big think in the posh lounges of the urban World. It sure would be fun to watch the gorgeous waitresses holding trays full of these hot-buttery little angels above the heads of well-heeled patrons. But in truth, I don't think that's going to happen. Besides, this is not the cocktail equivalent of a black Jil Sander suite. This is like that comfy old sweater. No other, from any store in SoHo or from the cold, cold Copley Mall can replace it but maybe Grandma could make you one.

Hot-Buttered-Rum

3/4 oz black strap rum
3/4 oz spiced rum
1/2 oz simple syrup
3 oz hot water
3 tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of ground Sichuan pepper