Canelazo Cocktail Recipe
Hot cinnamon water with aguardiente and lime — an Andean drink for altitude and cold nights.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Irish coffee mug
- ABV: 12%
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Aguardiente50 ml (1.7 oz)
- Cold water150 ml (5.1 oz)
- Cinnamon stick2 piece
- Simple syrup30 ml (1 oz)
- Fresh lime juice20 ml (0.7 oz)
How to Make It
- Simmer the water with the cinnamon sticks for fifteen minutes.
- Stir in the syrup and lime juice.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the aguardiente.
- Pour into warm mugs with a cinnamon stick.
Garnish
Cinnamon stick and a lime wheel
What it tastes like
The sweetness is pronounced, it smells of lemon and lime peel and there is a spiced warmth to it.
The technique
Built in the glass. Ice goes into the serving glass, the ingredients go on top, and you stir once if at all. Anything carbonated goes in LAST and never gets stirred; every turn of the spoon costs you bubbles. Fill the glass to the rim with ice: less ice melts faster, not slower.
Glass and ice
A handled, thick-walled Irish coffee mug. Built for hot drinks: the handle protects your hand and the thick glass holds the heat. Warming it with hot water first noticeably changes the first sip.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Cold water
- Seeing it in a recipe is not a mistake: in spirit-forward drinks, measuring the dilution instead of leaving it to the ice is what makes the result repeatable.
- Cinnamon stick
- A cinnamon stick is aroma, not decoration: it steeps in a hot drink, and in a cold one it is rubbed along the rim to leave its scent.
- Simple syrup
- One part sugar to one part water, stirred until it dissolves — no need to boil it. Keeps a month in the fridge. No syrup? Use the same amount of honey, loosened with a little water.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
The Story
Drunk across the Andes from Colombia to Ecuador, where evenings at three thousand metres are cold whatever the season.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Canelazo mixed?
- It is built in the glass and served in an Irish coffee mug.
- How strong is a Canelazo?
- Roughly 12% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Canelazo be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Canelazo hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.