Mike's Mix: Hi-Lo Diner
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Every Saturday, Mike Augustyniak finds the best mixologists in town to see what they're stirring up. This week, he heads to Hi-Lo Diner to try a cocktail with a chilly twist.
Aaron Brrr
- ½ banana
- 1 oz Plantation Dark Rum
- ½ oz Geijer Glögg
- ½ oz heavy cream
- ½ oz orgeat syurup
- 200 grams of vanilla ice cream
Combine all ingredients into a blender (or milkshake machine) and blend until smooth. Pour into a stemmed glass, and serve with three crushed pecans on top.
Taste Test
Alcoholic milkshakes (as some bars refer to them) are not new to the Twin Cities at this point; there are other places doing them, and the ones I've had are very good. Bartender Ryan Barott believes that the Hi-Lo Diner may be the only local establishment using hard ice cream, though. Barott refers to the Aaron Brrr as a 'craft ice cream cocktail,' because of the quality of the ingredients used. Plantation rum is good enough on its own to be sipping rum; the orgeat syrup is made from scratch, in-house (though it's easier to use a store-bought variety at home). The crushed pecan garnish adds some texture and a saltiness that offsets the creamy ice cream perfectly. If I had to grade cocktails, I'd give this one an A+!
BONUS TIKI COCKTAIL RECIPE!
Fjord Fiesta
- 2 oz Tattersall Aquavit
- ¾ oz Cocchi Americano
- ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
- ½ oz cinnamon syrup*
- ½ oz fresh pineapple juice
- ¼ oz Senior Blue Curacao
*To make Cinnamon syrup:
Heat 1 cup water until it starts to simmer. Add 1 cup sugar and incorporate with whisk. Add 10 cinnamon sticks and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.
To assemble cocktail:
Add all ingredients to a hurricane glass, and add crushed ice. Chill/dilute using a swizzle stick. Fill glass with remaining crushed ice, and garnish with cinnamon stick and lemon swath.
Taste Test
There simply wasn't enough time to be fair to this cocktail on the air, but it's another example of what can be found at the new Hi-Lo Diner. A custom-designed tiki-style cocktail, you'll find this one to be less sweet than most; it substitutes the drier flavor of Tattersall Aquavit (a Nordic gin-style liquor) for the sweeter, high-proof rums found in many tiki-style drinks.
Hi-Lo Diner opens in Minneapolis's Longfellow neighborhood on Monday March 28, 2016. They will serve traditional diner fare from scratch, from early in the morning until late at night.