Y’all ready for a little history lesson? Let’s start with the Alexander. You’re probably thinking, “Why would I want a creamy White Creme de Cacao and Brandy drink at a cocktail party, Karli? I’m on a diet. New Year, New Me, remember?” Well bud, I’m here to tell you the OG Alexander was actually made with gin. I know my cocktail history nerds out there know this, but I was actually surprised when I discovered the Brandy Alexander aka Alexander No. 2 came decades later. Take One was created to make bathtub gin palatable, most likely during the turn of the 20th century. As we all know, cocktail history is a little foggy because everyone was too drunk to post pictures and recipes on their Instagram accounts. Amateurs.

Anyway, rumor has it that the creamy version of the recipe, much like the Moscow Mule, was invented as an advertising campaign, specifically for a railroad that used clean burning anthracite instead of coal so the passengers weren’t covered in soot by the end of their voyage. The fictional character Phoebe Snow appeared in ads for DL&R Railroad wearing a spotless white dress and eventually the snow-white cocktail made its debut at a promotional dinner held by the railroad. That might not be the full truth but what a story, eh?

For the heavy cream substitution, I made a no churn pistachio ice cream. There are so many ways to go about this, and I chose the easiest way possible. Buy a pint at the store or find a blog that tells you how to make pistachio paste by removing the skins from individual pistachio kernels for an hour. Either way, pistachio ice cream+coffee liqueur+barrel aged gin got me like *swoon*.