Posting a cocktail recipe with the name “the Immaculate” was not intended to coincide with the Christmas season or the fact that we just passed the first Sunday in Advent, it just happened to work out that way. Was it coincidence? Was it Divine intervention? Are there greater things at work behind the scenes? Or is this just another cocktail you should be sure to add to your repertoire? Maybe its all of the above. It is interesting that I couldn’t find any info regarding the “conception” of the cocktail… But regardless of your personal theological beliefs, I think that once you try making one, you will certainly enjoy its brilliant blend of subtle flavors, and perhaps more appropriately, feel more relaxed and thankful at this time of year. Maybe that’s after two immaculates…
The Immaculate is:
2 oz. of light rum
1/2 oz. of amaretto
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp of sugar syrup
Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and savor!
The “Immaculate Conception” has nothing to do with Christmas specifically. In Catholic dogma, the Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Mary such that she did not have Original Sin. The conception of Jesus is referred to at the “Incarnation of Christ”. The Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception on December 8, so you may have been close to the right date just by accident.
That’s what I get for being a Protestant. Thankfully, it does appear that many get the two confused. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception
But I would still argue that the topic of “immaculate conception” is a key element of the Christmas time history given that it refers to the “vessel” (Mary) that gave birth to Jesus. There would not have been a reason for Mary to have been conceived via immaculate conception had she not been chosen to be Christ’s mother.