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Cocktail History
The Endless Night is a modern cocktail that was created by author Jassy Davis and was first published in her book Winter Warmers: 60 Cosy Cocktails for Autumn & Winter. Based on the Black Russian, it calls for the classic’s combination of spirit and coffee liqueur but substitutes the vodka for molasses-rich dark rum and tops it all with aromatic bitters and soda.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Coca-Cola: This is a carbonated soft drink made with coca leaf extract, caffeine, sugar, and carbonated water.
Smith & Cross Rum: This is a type of rum made with molasses or sugarcane juice, spices, and alcohol that has been barrel aged for a long period of time. This recipe specifically calls for Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum because it has an extremely unique flavor with notes of caramelized banana, exotic fruits, and baking spices and an earthy finish. For a low-proof version of this drink, try Caleño Non-Alcoholic Dark & Spicy Tropical Spirit in place of the Smith & Cross rum.
Coffee Liqueur: This is a liqueur made with coffee, spices, sugar, and alcohol. We used Kahlúa Coffee Liqueur because it has a sweet coffee flavor with notes of vanilla. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Lyre’s Coffee Original Non-Alcoholic Spirit in place of the coffee liqueur.
Aromatic Bitters: This is a food product made with botanicals, herbs, and alcohol. We used Angostura Aromatic Bitters. For a mocktail version of this drink, try All The Bitter Alcohol-Free Aromatic Bitters in place of the aromatic bitters.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Bar Spoon: This is used to stir ingredients. We used the Barfly Stainless Steel Teardrop Bar Spoon.
Tasting Notes
The Endless Night features strong, funky aromas of rum and cola, but the flavor is a softer tapestry featuring syrupy sweet cola initially, which gives way to more rum with slight coffee notes and a rum-and-coke-like flavor lingering on the aftertaste.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: As much as we love it, our use of Smith & Cross here was our folly because it bullied the other ingredients a bit too much; however, the Endless Night was still super tasty, and we’d highly recommend making these but with a slightly less challenging rum.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“For a fairly simple drink that you could probably get away with ordering at any old dive bar, this one has a lot of flavor. The Coke is surprisingly lost in the mixture of everything else and really only provides a sweetness and stretches the drink with effervescence while the coffee backs up the rum. For a weird drink, it’s quite tasty, and our choice of spirits made it a little more contemplative than crushable, something that’s always welcome to us when we’re mixing with sugary sodas.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This was our first year trying recipes with Smith & Cross rum, which is notorious for its uniquely funky flavor. I’ll admit, I don’t think I really cared all that much for any of those drinks because I like a more classic rum flavor, but this cocktail might change my mind if I have it a few times. I do think I’d like this even more with another less prominent rum, but overall, it was very tasty. The soda cuts the rum well, while the coffee liqueur rounds out the aftertaste with a noticeable sweetness. The Endless Night probably won’t land in my at-home rotation because I try to avoid soda, but I would drink this again in a pinch at a bar since most would likely have the ingredients on hand.”
Recipe
This cocktail recipe was adapted from Winter Warmers: 60 Cosy Cocktails for Autumn & Winter by Jassy Davis.
Add rum, coffee liqueur, bitters, and cracked ice to a lowball or short highball glass.
Stir for 5-7 seconds.
Top with soda.
Stir for 3-5 more seconds.
Ingredients
Directions
Add rum, coffee liqueur, bitters, and cracked ice to a lowball or short highball glass.
Stir for 5-7 seconds.
Top with soda.
Stir for 3-5 more seconds.
Make It a Mocktail: Use Caleño Non-Alcoholic Dark & Spicy Tropical Spirit in place of the Smith & Cross rum, Lyre’s Coffee Original Non-Alcoholic Spirit in place of the coffee liqueur, and All The Bitter Alcohol-Free Aromatic Bitters in place of the aromatic bitters to try a booze-free version of this drink.
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More Coffee Cocktails
If you like this coffee-flavored cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
White Russian: A rum cocktail made with coffee liqueur, Luxardo Amaro Abano, amaretto liqueur, and half & half
Sabueso Old Fashioned: A tequila and mezcal cocktail made with caramel coffee syrup, coffee and cocoa bitters, and an orange peel
Pumpkin Spiced Espresso Martini: A vanilla vodka cocktail made with espresso, coffee liqueur, pumpkin spice syrup, and grated nutmeg
Cold Brew Brandy Alexander: A brandy cocktail made with cold-brew coffee liqueur, dark crème de cacao, heavy cream, and coffee beans
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