After a few months absence from the fun of Mixology Monday, I’m back and ready to play along for Créme de la Créme, kindly hosted this month by Morsels & Musings.

As some of you may know or have noticed, this cream-based event presents me with an interesting challenge. Being a vegan means I don’t consume dairy products—a fact which renders me unable to use cream-based liqueurs. This generally doesn’t present many problems, as my cocktail tastes veer toward the traditional rather than the savory, but this is a perfect opportunity to step outside my usual zone.

For this MixMo theme, I wanted to try something that was a little over-the-top. Soy or nut milks make fine substitutions for milk in those recipes which call for it, and soy creamers will do the work of half ‘n’ half and (in flavor moreso than body) heavy cream. But what about a drink that is far from vegan-friendly? What about something that I couldn’t get at most bars in even a modified form? And, to top it all off, a drink that doesn’t even have a vegan-friendly name?

½ oz brandy
1 oz Galliano
¾ oz light creme de cacao
1 ½ oz soy creamer / heavy cream
1 scoop vanilla ice “cream”

Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

There’s a very specific sort of taste that I expected this drink to have, but it did not turn out quite that way. It was smooth and creamy but it lacked something—a unifying flavor, something that would tie the flavors together harmoniously. It seemed like a poor attempt to dress up a Brandy Alexander, using the Galliano to deepen the flavors and the ice cream to add richness. Sadly, though the texture of the drink was pleasant, it fell flat. I’ll stick to the granddaddy next round.

(For those who are interested, I used Silk soy creamer and Good Karma vanilla rice cream for this.)