The Crimson Slippers Cocktail taught me that rum and Campari are an astonishing, and nearly perfect, combination.
My sister found the Crimson Slippers in a magazine excerpt from A. J. Rathbun’s Dark Spirits (2009), and it’s been part of her regular cocktail rotation ever since; last time she visited, I decided to find out what the attraction was. What a delight. I’ve been drinking Campari with gin, Campari with rye, Campari with bourbon, but at last I’ve found its natural partner—who knew that Campari and dark rum could blend so well?
(Obviously Rathbun did; he invented the drink, after all. The story of its creation is at his Spiked Punch blog. )
Rathbun is making some of his ingredients himself. My hat is off to him for that; meanwhile, here’s our off-the-shelf version of his Crimson Slippers Cocktail:
- 2½ oz dark rum (Appleton Estate 12)
- 1 oz Campari
- ¼ oz Cointreau
- 2–3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Stir until quite cold; strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Express and garnish with lime.
This seems like an excellent use for a dark Jamaican rum, and the Appleton 12 works quite nicely.
Rathbun’s original recipe calls for a half ounce of triple sec, but it sounds like his homemade product is less sweet than Cointreau. A half ounce of Cointreau is overly sweet to my palate; cutting it in half seems to work just right for me. I haven’t tried it, but I would speculate that something like Patron’s Citronge, with its sharper orange flavor and reduced sweetness, might be a better match for this drink than the Cointreau. Either way, drink the Crimson Slippers while it is very, very cold.
As for the bitters, it pleases me to find another cocktail besides the Sazerac that blends Peychaud’s so perfectly.
“Crimson Slippers Cocktail” at cold-glass.com : All text and photos © 2010 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.
Cold Glass 
The Crimson Slippers sound very interesting. This kind of cocktail with Campari fix me. I think I try this recipe soon.
Yet one thing. The pictures on your blog are great. The glassworks captured excellent. What equipment you use? If it is not secret, of course. As a amateur cocktail photographer I have interest in this topic.
I’m glad you enjoy my postings. It’s gratifying to learn that you noticed my photos–I always check the illustrations at Science of Drink, and I keep them in mind when I’m shooting. My equipment is pretty simple: Nikon D3000 with the kit zoom lenses (a gift from my wife!), and a couple small speedlights. Some of the early shots were even made with a point and shoot Canon. Everything else is low tech and homemade, like cardboard reflectors and light boxes.
Hi Doug. I’ve been re-visiting some of your older posts and found this one. The Campari and dark rum is indeed an unexpectedly felicitous combination. I happened to be out of Cointreau at the moment, so substituted Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao. It’s a bit drier, so I restored the original 1/2 oz measure. For my taste, this worked very well; indeed, given that the Ferrand base spirit is cognac, maybe even better (brown spirit to dark spirit, so to speak). Anyway, a great find of a cocktail, and it’s certainly now on my regular list.
Thanks
Philip
I’m glad you enjoyed it, I certainly do. The Ferrand Curacao seems like it would be a very good match for Crimson Slippers. I hadn’t thought to try it in this drink, so I thank you for that. I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for taking time to note it.