The Blue Mamou

THE RECIPE

THE RECIPE
2oz 504Hibiscus Rum
1oz Blue Horchata
1oz Best OJ
1oz Blueberry syrup
2 Shakes Orange Bitters
Orange peel for garnish
Marsh Parsley for garnish

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain over ice. Garnish as desired with orange peel and marsh parsley.


To Make Blue Horchata
2 parts (1/2 lb) blue mosaic corn flour
2 parts rice flour
1 part pecan flour
2 parts turbinado/raw sugar
5 parts water
One lime, sliced and dehydrated
Black pepper
Zest of one orange
10 dried rose petals

Bring all ingredients to simmer until rice and corn become tender, stirring constantly, about 20 minutes. Add more water as necessary to create desired thickness.
Strain and bottle.


To Make Best OJ
Gather oranges and peel, reserving peels. Juice fruit into a container. Infuse half of peels into juice overnight, reserving remainder as cocktail garnish.


To Make Blueberry syrup.
1 cup Local Blueberry Juice (We use J&D Farms Juice)
1 cup sugar
3 Rosemary sprigs
5 Mint sprigs

Add all ingredients to a pot and heat to a simmer. Let herbs steep in syrup for 30 minutes. Strain and cool.

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THE STORY

We developed this cocktail for the annual Garden to Glass cocktail competition at the National WWII Museum, hosted by Eat Local NOLA & the New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee. The challenge was to create a cocktail made from local ingredients that could have been commonly found in victory gardens during the WWII era. Our cocktail won the competition, and we couldn't be prouder! If it's too intimidating to try this at home, you can sample the winning cocktail at The American Sector for the next year.

We got to work, knowing that 504Hibiscus would be the base of our drink. The Blue Mamou is loosely based on a cocktail called The Big Mamou that was served at The American Sector, restaurant at the WWII Museum, around 10 years ago. The Big Mamou originated in the 1940s in New Orleans, and was commonly served as a tiki cocktail at the Sazerac, the Roosevelt's Blue Room, and other high-end bars in the city. The original version of the drink, as far as we can gather from our historical research, commonly used rum, orgeat, fruit juice and herbs.

Our version of the classic tiki drink highlights our floral rum and subs in house-made horchata for orgeat, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and a blueberry-herb syrup with wild-foraged marsh parsley as a perfectly refreshing, sustainably sourced garnish.

We hope you like it as much as we do!