Caramel Turtle Alexander Cocktail in a coupe with cinnamon stick and turtle garnish — Caramel Turtle Alexander

What to do with a glorious liqueur that tastes like a caramel turtle candy – I know: a Caramel Turtle Alexander! If you’re familiar with the caramel turtle candy, pecans covered in caramel and chocolate, you’ll know all the flavors to expect in this cocktail with Ballotin Caramel Turtle Chocolate Whiskey.

I’m working with Ballotin Whiskey again to give you some more ideas on ways to use their fabulous Caramel Turtle Chocolate Whiskey. We’re adding some hortchata cream liqueur, amaro and chocolate bitters to create a sweet, yet complex cocktail. It’ll remind you of a Brandy Alexander, but with a great kick of pecan and caramel flavors.

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About Ballotin

Ballotin Whiskey got its start in Louisville working with the industry giant Flavorman to create a line of flavored whiskies. Of course, being from Louisville, there’s a plethora of Brown-Forman experience with co-owner Paul Tuell to create a flavored whiskey that’s approachable to whiskey newbies and interesting for bourbon enthusiasts alike. By carefully choosing the sourced whiskey at its base, the Ballotin line aims to keep a whiskey flavor while building on those flavors with additions like chocolate, bourbon ball and mint.

It’s a fine line, but the flavored whiskies they produce are not overly sweet and work wonders in cocktails to add whiskey and sweet flavors together. In fact, they’re so good, you could just drink them over ice as a cocktail themselves. Ballotin makes a full line of flavors, including Caramel Turtle, Bourbon Ball, Chocolate Mint, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Chocolate Cherry Cream and Chocolate Mocha Cream.

Flavors in the Caramel Turtle Alexander

To highlight the caramel and pecan notes in the whiskey, I’m adding two things not typical in a Brandy Alexander: horchata liqueur and amaro. The cinnamon notes from the horchata cream liqueur pair well with the pecan and caramel flavors, and that little bit of rum in the liqueur adds molasses and baking spice flavors as well.

The amaro, with its bittersweet profile, tames some of the sweetness in the cocktail and allows more of the pecan and caramel to shine through. While you can make this cocktail without the amaro, the bitterness of the amaro balances the flavors and draws out the underlying notes that tie everything together.

Garnishing the Turtle Alexander

While you can go overboard and add caramel syrup, whipped cream, chocolate drips, cinnamon powder and a caramel turtle, I went minimalist on this.

I added a bit of nutmeg, and a stick of caramel with a turtle candy on top. For the photo I added a mint sprig in a cinnamon stick, but that’s not required. It would be easy to turn this into a dessert instead of a cocktail, but that would overwhelm the flavors and detract from the cocktail itself.

How to Make the Caramel Turtle Alexander

Since we’re making a creamy drink, we shake this cocktail over ice. Add the whiskey, horchata liqueur, amaro and bitters in the shaker and add ice. Shake briefly, just enough to chill the cocktail, then strain into a chilled rocks glass (or coupe if you’re feeling fancy) that you’ve rimmed with caramel syrup.

To make a batch of 8 you can keep in the fridge, see the notes in the instructions below.

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You don’t need every slick, beautiful bar tool out there, but there are several I’ll recommend. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. However, that does not affect the cost of the items below.) My favorite pieces usually come from the Cocktail Kingdom section of Amazon:

You may already have these bar essentials, but just in case: