MxMo XXVIII--Bourbon

[eje]

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays.

This month's event is being hosted by the cooperative Live Journal blog Scofflaw's Den. The theme is Mixology Monday "Bourbon".

To quote them from their explanation of the topic:

Yes, we're just about a week out from Mixology Monday, BOURBON!  The scofflaws here at the Den come from a strong bourbon background so it seemed to be an easy choice for me to make when hosting.  Now, here's the real question: what do we want to see from you?  Well, anything bourbon related of course!  There's a fondness, of course, for the traditional drinks, but I always like seeing what random things the brilliant people out there come up with.  For instance, Todd Thrasher's "Smoker's Delight" at PX in Alexandria has bourbon and tobacco in it.

If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Monday, June 16th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizer.

Bourbon will be a challenge and a change of pace for me. I have a few tasty Bourbons around the house, but most of my Whiskey mixing lately has been with Ryes.

Anway, good topic, given the recent discussion of Summertime Bourbon drinks!

[eje]

Wow, could it really be only a little over year ago that I murdered Murray Stenson's drink the Porteño?

At the time, it just seemed wrong that it had more liqueur than bourbon...

I re-made that version, maybe even drying it out a bit more...

Tasted it, and thought, you know, this is muddled and generic. And what the hell was I thinking with a 4 oz drink? While it is balanced-ish, nothing about this is standing out for me. The character of the ingredients is lost.

So I went back to the original recipe:

3/4 oz Bourbon (Binny's Barrel Select Buffalo Trace)

1/2 oz Fernet Branca

1/2 oz Cherry Brandy (Cherry Heering)

1/2 oz Fresh Lime

1/2 oz Falernum (didn't have handy, so used homemade Swedish Punsch)

And goddamn, if that isn't a tastier drink.

I mean, it is waaaaay Fernet-ier. It's an initial hurdle you have to get over, but yeah, it's delicious. Every ingredient plays its part and shows up as you go through tasting it.

Sorry Murray.

[Tiare]

I`m still on my Paprika experiment cruise...so i made this spiced Paprika Whiskey Sour.

Maybe Paprika doesn`t sound so very tasty in a drink, but this one is really refreshing.

Spiced Paprika Whiskey Sour

2x2 cm red Paprika

50 ml Bourbon

20 ml Fresh Lemon juice

20 ml Raspberry pureé

30 ml Honey Spice Mix

Garnish: 3 red Paprika strips.

Muddle the paprika in a mixing glass and add the rest of ingredients and shake with ice, strain in ice filled rocks glass.

Honey Spice Mix (2 drinks) :

20 ml Honey, 20 ml Water

20 ml Fresh Lemon Juice

2 cm piece crushed Cinnamon stick

8 crushed green Cardamom pods

Stir honey with Water, Lemon Juice, Cinnamon and Cardamom in a small pan. Bring to a slight boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. Cool.

Raspberry Purée

2 dl Raspberries, 1 tsp fresh Lemon Juice, 1 tsp simple syrup, add a little water, puree. You want a quite thin pureé, so if to thick add some more water. Strain through cheesecloth to discard the seeds.

Edited June 13, 2008 by Tiare (log)

[bostonapothecary]

its monday and i have the day off... and i've been scheming a bourbon cocktail... i had a couple fingers left in a bottle of 95 proof black maple hill and some cigarrerra manzanilla sherry that i've been really into... i looked through the savoy cocktail book for inspiration to combine the two and came across the "artists special cocktail". it seemed liek a good idea...

Artist’s (Special) Cocktail

1/3 Whisky.

1/3 Sherry.

1/6 Lemon Juice.

1/6 Groseille Syrup.

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Note: This is the genuine 'Ink of Inspiration' imbibed at the Bal Bullier Paris. The recipe is from the Artists Club, Rue Pigalle, Paris.

so i assembled the drink using the black maple hill, cigarrerra sherry, lime juice because i had no lemons, and my own black berry shrub instead of the specified red currant syrup... if this drink called for a dry sherry like i used, these proportions are no fun with bourbon... the recipe has the makings for a dry and scrawny drink which really doesn't attract me... bourbon, which is full figured in flavor, needs some proportions that are more volumptuous if not even pornographic... the recipe is wise to split up the acids to make something more complex than say just lime juice, but it uses too much and i wouldn't even like it as an aperatief...

i made it again as

2 oz. bourbon whiskey

.5 oz. manzanilla sherry

.5 oz. lime

1 oz. black berry shrub

definitely fuller figured... the whiskey is much happier... more my style.

Edited June 17, 2008 by bostonapothecary (log)