Our Conversation with Alex Atzberger
This week Bill and I are joined by Alex Atzberger, CEO of Optimizely. We’ve had the pleasure of knowing Alex for many years - beginning with his time as Chief of Staff for Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP at the time. Alex went on to lead SAP Ariba and later SAP CX. Alex is a dynamic, thoughtful, insightful leader and we thoroughly enjoyed picking Alex’s brain about Optimizely, the future of digital marketing, commerce, and how the customer experience for enterprise software should work. In the end, this is a really interesting and delightful conversation I know you will enjoy.
For this episode, we created a new cocktail - the Cocojillo - using Alex’s wonderful Wonderbon canned milk chocolate. Besides leading Optimizely, Alex also founded Wonderbon. His goal: to bring fine European-style milk-chocolate to America. It is a delicious milk chocolate - hot or cold - and proved to be delightful in a cocktail! So of course we not only wanted to mix with it, but we got to explore the origin story of this great milk-chocolate as well!
Enjoy! Cheers!
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Introducing the Cocojillo!
The Cocojillo is a ‘Cocktails & Commerce’ original, born in Bill’s Santa Cruz lab as we worked to create something using Alex’s Wonderbon milk chocolate. The inspiration for the Cocojillo was the Carajillo, a classic Spanish and Mexican coffee cocktail. Some describe the Carajillo as a Spanish version of an Irish Coffee, but that is selling it short. A coffee cocktail with a split base of espresso and Licor 43, the Carajillo brings the a leathery, caramel, vanilla sweetness and spicy citrus notes of Licor 43 and builds upon the espresso’s bitter, robust foundation. Some add brandy to the equation in a Carajillo, which also works well.
In creating the Cocojillo, Bill explored a number of angles before settling on the magic of the equal parts specs - incorporating a bold Anejo tequila, a great coffee liqueur, Licor 43, and the fantastic Wonderbon milk chocolate. The result is a fantastic, velvety, balanced desert cocktail that coffee and chocolate lovers will love.
A bit more on the drink that inspired the Cocojillo - the Carajillo
As with many cocktail origin stories, there’s some debate as to where exactly the Carajillo recipe originated, but its story likely begins with Cremat - a Catalan blend of coffee and dark rum, often dolled up with cinnamon, sugar, and a lemon peel. Cremat was a common sailor’s drink of its era, and enjoyed by the traders who traveled between Catalonia and the Americas in the 1800s. The Carajillo name was adopted when Cuba was a Spanish province, and soldiers would often drink this blend of coffee and rum for a boost of coraje, or courage. The drink floated around Latin America, with certain countries developing their own variants. Colombia had Carajillos with brandy. In Mexico, drinkers sometimes used mezcal and coffee liqueur. Regardless, when Licor 43 hit the market in 1946, Mexico was the first to employ it in the cocktail, creating the Carajillo recipe we know today. The drink made the transition from hot to cold, and quickly became a nightlife staple and a go-to post-meal pick-me-up. These days, it is so ubiquitous that even Kellogg’s has made an “Extra Collection” Carajillo flavored cereal they distribute in Mexico.
Licor 43 - a key ingredient in the Carajillo and our Cocojillo - also is worth touching on. It is so named for the alleged 43 secret ingredients it contains, and is loosely based on the ancient liqueur Liqvor Mirabilis, or “Marvelous Liquid.” In 209 B.C., the Romans discovered the fruit- and herb-infused Liqvor Mirabilis elixir upon conquering Carthago Nova (modern-day Cartagena) in southeast Spain. Apparently, Liqvor Mirabilis was so beloved that the Romans outlawed its production and consumption to avoid its temptations, and the Carthaginians were forced to move production underground. When the Cartagena-based Zamora family started making Licor 43 in the 1940s, they set out to recreate what they imagined the recipe to be. The liqueur is said to contain a blend of fruit juices, vanilla, spices, and herbs, but no one — other than the Zamoras — knows for sure. Today Licor 43 can be found throughout Europe, and is widely used in Mexico - and is building an audience in the U.S. as well.
But to take the Carajillo concept to the next level, order yourself some Wonderbon and make yourself one of these wonderful Cocojillo cocktails!
Cheers!
Cocojillo Cocktail Spec, Serves One
3/4 oz (~ 25 ml) - Anejo Tequila
3/4 oz (~ 25 ml) - Licor 43
3/4 oz (~ 25 ml) - Mr. Black coffee liquor
3/4 oz (~ 25 ml) - Wonderbon
The process:
Fill a cocktail shaker with the above ingredients and fill with enough ice to cover the liquid completely. Shake well to full blend ingredients (15-30 seconds). Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass. (Preparation time: 3 minutes)
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Be well, be safe, and here is to good business! Cheers! - Brian & Bill
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