Drinks

Hot Spiked Chai

Name: Hot Spiked Chai
Ingredients: 4 oz. equal parts brewed masala chai tea (such as Spicewalla Chai Masala) and hot milk; 1½ oz. Amrut Old Port rum; 1 barspoon Eda Rhyne Appalachian Fernet; ½ oz. honey

A warming, spicy, boozy sipper from the Botiwalla team

By Caroline Sanders Clements

December 2019/January 2020

Photo: Molly Milroy| Chai Pani Restaurant Group

Chef Meherwan Irani’s expertise with Indian spices extends past the masala-tinged fish and cumin-and-chile-seasoned lamb burgers he serves at his restaurants around Asheville, Atlanta, and now Charlotte, where the four-time James Beard Award nominee is opening a third iteration of Botiwalla at the new Optimist Hall. This wintertime treat mingles his Spicewalla chai tea blend with rum and North Carolina amaro.

Ingredients

Yield: 1 cocktail
- 4 oz. equal parts brewed masala chai tea (such as Spicewalla Chai Masala) and hot milk
- 1½ oz. Amrut Old Port rum
- 1 barspoon Eda Rhyne Appalachian Fernet
- ½ oz. honey

Preparation

Brew black chai tea to listed specifications and add hot milk. Preheat a mug with hot water. Discard water and pour in milky chai tea. Stir in remaining ingredients. Top with grated nutmeg.

Caroline Sanders Clements is the associate editor at Garden & Gun and oversees the magazine’s annual Made in the South Awards. Since joining G&G’s editorial team in 2017, the Athens, Georgia, native has written and edited stories about artists, architects, historians, musicians, tomato farmers, James Beard Award winners, and one mixed martial artist. She lives in North Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Sam, and dog, Bucket.