Why Stop at Baileys? Spike Your Hot Chocolate with Cognac, Too

During the festive season in London, the Althoff St. James’s Hotel & Club goes all out. In addition to offering a “Santa’s Naughty or Nice” menu including cheese, charcuterie, and mince pies, its Seven Park Place Bar & Lounge serves a slew of wintery cocktails. One standout is the soul-warming Midnight Cocoa, a boozy hot chocolate that upgrades your standard Baileys spike with the addition of Cognac.

In the event you can’t make it to London to sip the drink at the Mayfair hotel, the Midnight Cocoa is easy to whip up at home. Duarte Cosme, the bar manager at Althoff St. James, recommends using a rich, high-quality dark chocolate—ideally one with a cocoa content between 60% and 70%—to create a “strong, dense base” that resembles a French chocolate chaud. “Its intensity ensures the chocolate notes stand up and are not overpowered by the robust flavours of the Cognac and Baileys,” he says. “The resulting thick, velvety texture is essential for balancing the creamy liqueur and providing a dessert-style mouthfeel.”

Another key to the drink? Warming the glass. Cosme pre-warms a mug or Irish coffee glass with hot water and then discards the water before mixing the ingredients inside it.

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