In the last Around the Beerblogosphere piece I mentioned finding the recipe for an Xmas cocktail that I was quite tempted by: the port and stout mull-it. On closer inspection though, it turns out you have to boil a jar of sweet mince-meat and strain out the lumpy bits until you end up with a spicy syrup... dear me, that sounds like far too much effort and mess!

Then I remembered something that Reluctant Scooper said ages ago, about making a DIY cocktail during a visit to the Marble Arch... I realised that we actually had all the necessary ingredients in the beer cupboard already, so Jo and I rolled up our bar-sleeves and got to work.

Here's how we did it:

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

For this recipe, you will need the following (see fig. 1):

fig. 1 - Assemble the Ingredients

1. A bottle of Marble Chocolate (a rather superb 5.5%ABV "stout(ish)" dark ale)
2. A bottle of Marble Ginger (we used the 6%ABV variety - a.k.a. "Big Ginger")
3. A suitable cocktail glass (or "pint pot" as they're more commonly known)

Step 2: Pour half the Marble Chocolate into your cocktail glass (see fig. 2):

fig. 2 - Pour the Marble Chocolate...

WARNING! At this stage you will be sorely tempted to guzzle the delicious, chocolatey liquid, spurred on by those fabulous cocoa-aromas and the sight of all that gorgeous dark beer sitting there, calling out to you... but you must resist! Or at least, you must resist unless you're only planning on making one measure of delicious cocktail mixture, in which case you can sup half of each bottle au naturel if you prefer. But bear with us, we promise the end result is well worth it...

Step 3: Pour (carefully!) half the Marble Ginger into the same glass (see fig 3):

fig. 3 - Merge the Marble Ginger...

Jo was obviously the glamorous hand-model for this stage of the process (hers are frankly much lovelier hands than mine - nobody needs to see my gnarled and keyboard-scarred digits interrupting the visual delights of Marble Chocoginge).

Step 4: The end result

fig. 1 - The finished article... Cheers!

I believe the phrase we're looking for is: "Ta-daaaa!"

Assuming you haven't already supped the remaining beer, you can then prepare a second measure for your glamorous hand-model, before she kicksyouinnanuts and steals yours.

Tasting Notes: Delicious! Marvellous! Gorgeous! Fabulous! All that warm, spicy ginger dances on your tongue, and then a bitter-sweet wave of chocolatey goodness rolls along behind it: flavour, flavour, flavour all the way to your tonsils. Seriously, what could be more Xmas-y than the combination of chocolate and ginger, all wrapped up in a 5.75%ABV (averaging the two, that is) beer-based liquid delivery system? Eggnog? Bailey's? Advocaat? Bah, humbug! Grab yourself a couple of bottles of Marble's finest, apply them to a pint pot and you'll be well on your way to an extremely merry Yuletide indeed, I promise you.

Big thanks to Reluctant Scooper for the inspiration and to the Marble Brewery for the fantastic ingredients!

Related posts:

1. Tasting Notes: Marble Pint, Marble Dobber, Marble Summer
2. At the Marble Arch – food amaz…
3. Tasting Notes: Robinson’s Ginger Tom
4. Spoilt for Choice at the Trackside, Bury
5. A Pretty Much Perfect Pub Session