We Tried Ed Hamilton’s Secret New Coffee Liqueur

The man who brings you all of the incredible rums from Hamilton Rum has recently come out with a new thing. It's a coffee liqueur. We were on a cruise ship about, was that two years ago? There was one moment on the cruise ship where we were kind of sitting around in a group and Ed Hamilton goes, what do you think about a coffee liqueur? And I go, what? And so that's what we're going to talk about tonight. And I would love to welcome back to the show, my buddy, Ed Hamilton. Hi. Good to see you. Good to see you too. Dude, you made the thing. Everything I've done is because people asked for it. I didn't get high one night and come up with this great idea. Bartenders were asking me for a better coffee liqueur. And that's the same thing that happened with your White Stash, right? And Breezeway Blend. And the Breezeway Blend. And Jamaican Black and Weston, everything. I don't have any original ideas. I just listened to bartenders and consumers. But I resisted this because I didn't have the right coffee and I didn't want to go searching around looking for it. And then finally a guy named Trey Malone, who you will probably get to know at some point, came to me and said, Ed, we're going to do a coffee liqueur. And I said, no. I didn't know him, didn't know who he was, didn't know where he was. Turns out he was a big deal in the coffee industry. And he had a very good source of sustainably grown coffee, but not just a sustainably grown. The company Thrive that imports the coffee pays the farmers more than a living wage so they can thrive. Wow. Thrive Farmers is the name of the company. That's amazing. Yeah. Because you've got things like Fair Trade, but it kind of goes through a co-op. And then here this guy and this guy, these people go directly to the farmer, buy containers of coffee from them, bring it in, roast it and sell it. And they've got some big corporate customers around the country, people that are interested in sustainability and transparency. So Trey says, hey, I've been playing around with your Jamaican rum a little bit and with some of this, but I know you can do better. So I went down to New Orleans and we spent a couple of days and looked at it and tasted a lot of stuff. And I said, yeah, I think we can do this. So this first batch was roasted and ground and cold brewed in Jackson, Mississippi, where Trey has an operation. And then we shipped a tank, a thousand liters to upstate New York, Westfield, New York, where I bottle everything. There we added the sugar and the rum and bottled it. The next batch will be cold brewed in Westfield. And I'm going up there in about a week and Trey's coming with me. It's not a big, super complicated process if you've got the right equipment. Five and 20's done some coffee things in the past with different coffee. We've got good full body Nicaraguan coffee. It's a medium to heavy roast, dark roast, and then it's ground, cold brewed. We had the Jamaican rum. We tried a couple of different rums. The Jamaican rum that I've been using for the black and the gold come through really well. When I used an aged rum, it lost some of the character because the aged rum's a little smoother. It doesn't punch through the coffee. So I'm real happy with it. Why don't we taste this? Yeah, I'm dying. Dying to taste it. So this is the coffee liqueur. So it's about 45, 50 milligrams of caffeine. What does that mean? It's got caffeine in it. Okay. I mean, people that are into coffees, they know what their caffeine intake is and all that. And it is 30% Jamaican rum by volume. You definitely get the rum on the nose. Yeah. So what I was looking for was not bitter, not too sweet. No. If things are bitter, you can add sugar to it and get rid of that, but you end up getting really sweet. I like it. It's really good. Dude, it's really good. So you add to the 100% of the people that have tried this and said it was really good. Really good. Excellent. A few people said it's the best one they ever tasted, but I don't believe they ever tasted anything else. So they probably don't really know. I don't think it's a simple coffee liqueur like some of the other brands. I think this has nuance to it. It's a little bit more interesting. I think the rum, actually, all of a sudden you go, oh, this is a Hamilton product. You taste the rum. But if I didn't tell you which rum it was and just said, it's coffee liqueur. Personally, I would be scratching my head a little bit and saying, yeah, there's alcohol in there, but what is it? Which one is it? And the reason I did this was bartenders were telling me they wanted something with a little higher ABV, 30% alcohol. We don't care how sweet it is. We don't want it too sweet. We can add sugar with bartenders. We got lots of sugar. Sure. So make it as low sugar as you can. We're also watching our figures. That's why we're drinking alcohol so we can exercise and all that higher alcohol, lower sugar, not bitter. I found out in the process of doing this, that a lot of coffee liqueurs are made with neutral spirits, which I suspected. And some of them actually tell you what it is. Can you explain what that is? Neutral spirit is basically vodka. Very high proof spirit. It's distilled to a very high proof, so it's neutral. Okay. Does that mean no flavor profile to it? There's very little flavor profile unless they add something to it. It's basically ethanol, alcohol. I also found out that a lot of these coffee liqueurs that are on the market are made with freeze dried coffee, instant coffee. Freeze dried coffee. Well, it dissolves better, faster. And if you're in production, you just bring in a tote or a box of freeze dried coffee. It's expedient. It's expedient and it's easy and you just scoop it in or weigh it out. Is that the same as instant coffee? Yeah, instant coffee, freeze dried coffee. I hate instant coffee. When I go and I record with my band in Shorty's studio, he calls it prison coffee. I don't want to drink no prison coffee. Prison coffee I think is better. Is it? Well, prison coffee is made in a cell, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, just probably instant. I was thinking they heat it up with a toilet paper roll. Hamilton Cafe Carib, not prison coffee is your tagline. So we've tasted it. Yeah. It's so good. I'm not saying this because I'm your buddy or because we're standing in front of people. It's really, really good. Yeah, I know you wouldn't know. I could drink a glass of that. If you didn't think it was good, we wouldn't be talking. I'd be like, I don't know. For the rats. You've had a few of those. We've seen a few of those on your show. Cocktails demand better ingredients. A cocktail will always gravitate to the lowest common denominator. Yes. You use bad ingredients, you're going to get a bad cocktail. Right. That's why we use fresh fruit juices and fresh limes and all these other things. Limes are fruit, but let's make a drink. Let's make a drink. Cheers. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I'm really happy with it. I'm proud of it. I have to thank Trey and Michael Jones from Thrive Coffee. Without them, this wouldn't have happened. It's just so good. Is it available now? It is available. It just arrived in California. It started shipping today or tomorrow. High Times just ordered 10 cases of it. It's available other places. I did a small run, 168 cases for the first run. I'm going to do another couple of hundred and then it's going to grow from there. But I've got to get things like the label, make sure it's right. The QR code on the back doesn't work. There's always something. Yeah, totally. It's always something. Well, when you go to the store to replenish your Breezeway Blend supply, pick up a bottle of the Cafe Caribe. Am I saying that right? Cafe Caribe. I'm going to add an E to it, but don't worry about it, Caribe. You'll recognize the bottle. So what we're going to do tonight is we're going to make a cocktail from the Mai Kai. This is a Hurricane Hayward interpretation of the black magic. We have never actually made this before with these ingredients, so I don't suspect that it's going to suck. No, it's not going to suck. But we're kind of flying blind here and we're going to use nothing but Hamilton products and products from nature, like coffee from the Caribe. Okay, so two ounces of orange juice. Let's start with that. So we put in four ounces. Yep. There's two there and two there. Okay. Your orange juicer. Two ounces of lime juice. Okay. Another two. We haven't made a drink on the show. Well, actually, we made all those drinks, didn't we? We made a lot of drinks. For the Breezeway Blend cocktail contest. And grapefruit, we're going to do one and a half ounces, so that'll be three ounces. There's two. Sorry we don't have a model helping us. A model? Oh, like a pent-a-palmer or something? The honey mix, please. This is a rich honey mix, and it's one and a half ounces per cocktail, so we're going to do another three. Come on, it's going to be sweet. Maybe two. We're going to do two for the honey mix. It'll be good. Okay. We're sweetened up without it. Okay. And then for the coffee liqueur. My God. Okay, we're going to do one and a half ounces per drink. What do you think about that? Yes, that sounds good. Okay. A little heavy, huh? Is that three? No, that was two and a little bit, so I'll go a little under one here. Okay. Okay, so for Hurricane Hayward's recipe, he calls for Bacardi Black. It's not a Hamilton product, is it? It's okay. It's okay? Yeah, well, we're substituting. We'll use what we got. Okay. We'll use Jamaican Black. Okay. Jamaican pot's still black. It's a black rum. Okay. With character. And we're going to do two ounces per drink. Well, this is a stout drink. You got somewhere to be later? No. You're not giving a speech or anything, are you? No. I brought two tins out here because I was like, oh, we should probably do it in two. We're running out of room here. It'll be okay. Okay. And then the other one is, it calls for a Dark Jamaican and Appleton Reserve, and you're saying West Indies. Well, this is as close as I could get to it. It was either the West Indies. This is 84 proof, or we'd go with the Navy Strength 114 proof. I would say there's enough alcohol in this already. I think so, too. Let's go with this. Okay. The Jamaican Black is a little heavier than the Bacardi Black, so I think it'll be okay. Okay. And we're going to do one and a half per drink, so that'll be three. So how many ounces of alcohol in this drink? Lots. Yeah. They give you a seat belt at the Mai Kai when you order this. You end up in the fountain. That's why you don't end up married. You're okay. Oh, my God. Oh, dude, it's so good. So normally, this recipe, though, it would call for actually cold, fresh brewed coffee. Oh, it's just coffee. It's not coffee liqueur. Right. Yeah, we're fine cutting back on the alcohol, because this is 30% alcohol. We're going to do a teaspoon of Dawn Spices No. 2, a teaspoon per drink. And this is just a one-to-one mix of vanilla syrup and allspice. And then two dashes of mango. You want to do that? Sure. Let's see if I can do this without screwing it up. Okay. Let me shake this a little bit first. Two dashes per drink? Oh, one dash per drink. So two total. Okay. That is extremely full. So just pour some of the other drink. Yeah. Should we go back and forth? Yeah, go back. Like half. Yeah, you don't have two more. Oh, you think that combines it all the way? Guaranteed. Trust me, I'm an engineer. He is an engineer. Okay, let's cut for some ice. Cut for ice. What are we going to call this drink? Hamilton's Magic? Black Hamilton's Magic? I was thinking Hayward's. Hayward's Demise. Oh, Hayward's Demise. Or, I don't know. I'm not good at cocktail names. Okay. So, oh, you want to cut back in? We're going. Okay, yeah. You'll just figure it in. I thought you were going to say, oh, now we got ice. Yeah, we got ice. Okay. Why don't you go ahead and hit it on the blender there for, I don't know. Oh, you want me to do it? Okay. Oh, my God. There's yours. I'm so excited about this drink. Okay. Top it off with some ice here. Is this going to be enough drink for you? Well, I sure hope so. I got a little more balance than you do, so it should be enough for you. I should be the worried here. How do you want to garnish this? It's got to be mint, right? That's what we have. Mint. You're not usually a garnishing type of fellow, are you? Oh, I am. Yeah. Oh, you are? Sure. Okay. When somebody else is making drinks, do whatever garnish you want. We don't skimp them in on the show here. Give it a little smack. Twist off the bottom there and right in the back. Oh, beautiful. Okay, dude. This is the moment. The moment we've been waiting for. Nice and frosty. It is nice and frosty. What are we calling this? This is our adaptation of Hurricane Hayward's Mai Kai coffee. Black Magic. Black Magic. That is not a very catchy name. No, that is not a very catchy name. This is Hamilton's Magic. It's pretty good. I mean, that's pretty good. That's really good. Yeah, not too sweet. No, not too sweet at all. I don't miss the honey. No, the grapefruit comes through, which I was surprised that little bit of grapefruit came through, lime came through. You definitely get the notes of the coffee. Yeah, coffee. It's a good drink. It's a really good drink. Yeah. Now, if only we were sitting in the Molokai bar. We wouldn't be drinking this. Oh, yeah, that's true. We wouldn't be drinking this. But maybe we can get that into the Molokai bar? No. No? Oh, okay. I don't tell bartenders what to do. To get bartenders to change what they're doing is really hard. But there are many other good bars. I know Strongwater is looking at this pretty strongly. Oh, Strongwater is. And if Strongwater is looking at it, it's a pretty good sign. Then other people look at it. Yeah. But honestly, everybody that's tasted it has been very pleasantly surprised and pleased and got orders for it already. So I think this is delicious. I kind of wish there was more coffee in it, just because I love the taste of that. And I like more coffee in the drink. Yeah. Yeah, we could have more coffee to it. I would... maybe I'd bump that up to two ounces. Yeah, it's an ounce and a half. I would go two ounces. And maybe cut back on some of the other alcohol, just because it's another three ounces, or three and a half. Yeah. And the coffee liqueur already has 30% alcohol in it. It is boozy then, huh? Yeah, it's a boozy drink. But it's good. Now, we're not going to fix this drink by adding more coffee now, if it's not blended all together. Oh. You know how it is. You can't fix drinks. But you can add a little bit, but just, you know, temper your expectations. Maybe it's a half ounce float. There you go. Now I could support that. Okay. Look at this. A little color to the top. You want to do that too? Yes, please. And I was going to say, pour it around a little bit, so it does actually float. Oh, okay. That's what stays on top. So that'll be the last thing you taste, right? Well, not if I stir it up. Oh, true. But it'll stir up by the time we get down into it. Well, now I want to stir it. Yeah. Well, this was like a total surprise, this product. Well, it wasn't a total surprise for me. You thought it was going to suck? No, no, no. I didn't think it was going to suck. I just didn't think you were going to do it. We kind of talked about it on the cruise, and then I never really heard about it again. And you shocked me on the cruise. On the cruise, I was like, wait, what? Well, people had been asking me for it, but I typically don't tell people it's ready until it's ready to deliver. The problem is if you tell people it's coming and then distributors say, oh, well, just hold my order till you get the next thing. And it might be another six months. So I wait till it's in the warehouse before I tell people it's available. And then I say, okay, here it is. It's available. Now you can order it. Well, it just makes things flow a little better. Also, if you're delayed, people lose interest. Yeah, sure. They go, oh, I thought you had that already. Yeah, yeah. That being said, what's your next surprise? I have no more surprises. No more surprises? I would love to say that Beach Bump Barry and I have finalized the blend for the Mai Tai blend. Yeah. But that hadn't happened. Have you been working on it? Or is this off the record? Yeah, you do a lot of thinking and a lot of planning and a little bit of this and that. It's a spiritual thing. It's not something you can just sit down and do this to. Oh, voila, here it is. Right. It takes a lot of tasting, testing and see how things go. Especially with something as iconic. Iconic and that is going to be critiqued more than anything I've ever done. Yeah. A Mai Tai blend is just nerve wracking. Yeah. Right. But something like this, I'm really proud of it. I'm really happy with it. It came out. It exceeded my expectations of what it could be. I'm only as good as my last blend. And bartender's only as good as his last drink. You're only as good as your last video. Oh, God. That's the truth. No, I don't want to do a Mai Tai blend unless it's until it's just right. Is it something that is currently being worked on? Yeah. Yeah. We're still contemplating getting everything right. Okay. And I don't think people realize that you are Hamilton Rum. Like you don't have a team of interns underneath you. No, I have no interns. I have a few friends that help me. Spike. I do what I can. Yeah. Spike's a big part of what I do. You are actually the only other person that I collaborate with on anything like this as far as promotion. So I really appreciate that. That's really good. It's really good. Make this one at home. But you got to buy the West Indies Rum. You got to buy the Pot Still Black. Do it just like this. And I swear this is and bump it up to two ounces. Wait, was it two ounces? Yeah. For the coffee liqueur. Yeah, you can do that. I think it's better with the two ounces. The only thing better than two would be three. But what do you think about three ounces? No, I don't know that I would do three ounces without lowering the other rums. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. Because this is 30% alcohol. And I believe the recipe you had was coffee, not coffee liqueur. True. And there's already, let's see, there's already three and a half ounces of rum before you add the coffee liqueur. So we're getting into like rum barrel zone, zombie zone. Yeah, rum barrel, not zombie. Rum barrel zone. Yeah. Drinks. Rum barrel will get you. I'm saying I haven't been home enough to play around with this. I can't wait to pour it, to make a little volcano with ice cream, with a bowl of ice cream and pour this in the middle of it. That's my. Oh. Soon as I. Just with ice cream. Yeah, just when I get a day off. I'm going to do that. Oh man, that sounds good. Yeah, I look forward to that. So thanks for letting me come down here and do this with you. Of course. Where can people find you on the internet? Caribbean-spirits.com or edrumguy on Instagram. And you're still doing your, what, Friday night meetups? Friday night, happy hours. I missed last Friday. Sometimes if I have to, I'll hand it over to somebody just for five o'clock Pacific time, eight o'clock East Coast time. So follow Ed on Instagram at edrumguy. Otherwise, if you enjoyed this, please be sure to hit like button, subscribe to the channel if you aren't already. And if you like this video, you might also like this video. So click on this one. Aloha. That was so fun with this. Don't do that. Now I got to start adding extra ----. I don't think we've done all the damage we can do here. I think I'm drunk. It's a boozy drink. Watch the puffer fish.