Sea Viper sippers and goat cheese appetizers

Saturday night is often the time my husband and I try out new cocktail and appetizer recipes.
   One recent Saturday we made a dynamite sipper and appetizer – goat cheese crackers with red pepper jelly washed down with a Sea Viper, a lovely libation combination of Sailor Jerry Rum and black tea.
   My husband and I tried Sailor Jerry Rum for the first time a while back in another cocktail, Ginger Rum Shandy, and liked it so much we wanted to use it again in something else.
   After Googling “Sailor Jerry Rum,” we found the recipe for the Sea Viper (click for the recipe).
   My husband took the lead on this one, making the black tea, adding sugar until it met his satisfaction, letting it cool to room temperature and then putting it in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.
   The recipe says to use two parts of black tea for every one part Sailor Jerry Rum. That’s such anexceedingly huge ratio of rum to tea you would need to be a hard-drinking sailor to tolerate it.
   My husband used just an ounce of rum for about a cup of tea, and that was plenty. He served the cocktails on ice in highball glasses.
   The inspiration for the goat cheese on crackers topped with red pepper jelly came from Fine Cooking magazine.
   The magazine recipe (click for it here) says to use good quality hot pepper jelly, and that’s fine for those who can tolerate the heat.
   I used some mild red pepper jelly we bought recently, and this was perfect for my husband and I, as we both dislike overly-spicy foods.
   The goat cheese is used when it is room temperature, and that left it creamy enough to spread nicely on the crackers (we used water table crackers.)
   After the cheese is spread on the crackers, it is topped with red pepper jelly, popped in the mouth and enjoyed.

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