Drink of the Week: KOTA Pandan Liqueur
An increasingly popular cocktail ingredient, pandan offers a fragrant, tropical-leaning flavor somewhere between coconut and vanilla. The tricky part is obtaining it, as the leaves of the Southeast Asian plant are not simply found at most grocery stores. Frozen leaves and processed extracts can be purchased online. But wanting something more bartender friendly, mixologist Nico de Soto (Mace, Danico) created KOTA Pandan Liqueur in collaboration with historic French distiller Gabriel Boudier.
Made by steeping the pandan leaves in a neutral spirit for several days before distilling and sweetening, the resulting liqueur is beautifully aromatic with notes of vanilla, toasted rice, and buttery sugar cookie that carry through to the flavor, balanced with a subtly grassy botanical element. Experiment with KOTA in a variety of cocktails, from a knockout Daiquiri to a tropically inflected Negroni. $40.99, curiada.com
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