Make this: Chris Van's Mango Champagne Colada
When your friend from way back in junior high becomes an elite-level booze pedaler, you take his cocktail recommendations and say thank you.
(Editor’s note: I’ve known Chris Van since we were pimply-faced teenagers at Eisenhower Junior High School in Lawton, Oklahoma in the late 1990s. Chris and I got along great because we were both nerdy kids with wild curiosities and an eye for underappreciated cool things. Currently, he’s an award-winning cocktail maker for The Winston in Norman, Oklahoma and an occasional thought provider to Sip Mightily. This excerpt below comes from our most recent industry trends roundtable newsletter, and I thought it was worth breaking out on its own. Make this cocktail, and say thank you to Chris afterward.)
If I had only one dinner cocktail I made for guests I would go for something with bubbles like a champagne cocktail riff. You can incorporate so much flavor in it but still keep it approachable.
Mango and basil is a combo I’ve used all summer. We recently took this drink I made — a mango champagne colada — to a competition and won. It’s perfect for summer, or anytime.
I should note, this is this build is way intense, but I’m really proud of it and absolutely love this drink. This is the level of craft I’m into and I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole pretty far. This probably isn’t for everybody, but I recommend you make it if you’re ever up for it. — Chris V.
Recipe: Chris Van's Mango Champagne Colada
Serve: Champagne glass
Garnish: Basil leaf
Ingredients
1.5 oz. Toasted coconut-infused aged rum
0.5 oz. Plantation pineapple rum
1.25 oz. Mango vanilla syrup
0.5 oz. Fresh lime juice
2 oz. Champagne
Toasted coconut sugar rim
Make the mango vanilla syrup: Ingredients — 1 cup diced mango, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract. Bring water to a simmer and sugar. Mix until dissolved. Add mango and vanilla. Blend and fine strain.
Make the toasted coconut rum: Toast 1 cup of raw coconut flakes by spreading coconut flakes on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Once it turns light brown, pull the pan. The residual heat will continue to cook the flakes and they will burn easily. Add flakes into a large container, add rum and let it infuse for 7-10 days.
Make coconut sugar rim: Toast 1/2 cup of raw coconut flakes. Blend in blender until grain size. Add 1/2 cup sugar and mix.
Make the cocktail: Rim champagne glass with coconut sugar rim and add champagne. In a mixing tin, add toasted coconut rum, pineapple rum, mango syrup, lime juice, and several basil leaves. Top with ice and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Strain into a champagne glass and garnish with basil leaf.