Two Drinks and a Snack
it's whiskey sour season!
New here? Hi! Scroll down for the video link and all the way to the bottom for the recipe!
Hello my casks and barrels,
All the leaves are brown and so is my spirit of choice: bourbon whiskey. As soon as the Halloween decorations come down, my cocktail craving segues from a mezcal margarita to a whiskey sour, made with bourbon. And if I’m offered the drink made with an egg white, the answer is always yes.
Sometimes I like my whiskey sour up, sometimes on the rocks. If you toss a maraschino cherry in there, I will not complain. I prefer the Shirley Temple type to the fancy Italian ones, for the record. In NYC, I have had great whiskey sours at The Long Island Bar, the Greenwich Hotel, Balthazar, Maison Premiere, the original Angel’s Share, The Commodore, and Bernies. Of late, I’ve (dangerously) enjoyed making them at home—might have something to do with why I kicked off a pro-rated dry November on 11/7 this year.
When the time came to plan recipes that would be released during the holidays, I wanted to work on three bourbon drinks, one of which would be a classic bourbon sour. That dream died when I was advised by People Who Ought to Know These Things strongly suggested I include a snack along with the beverages.
Well, I obliged. This week I’m dropping a three-in-one. A Very Classic Whiskey Sour is below—I did not reinvent the wheel, and tipsily offer what I think are excellent (and easy to memorize) ratios of bourbon to lemon juice to simple syrup. You can always tweak a quarter ounce this way or that to dial it into your preferred balance of sweet and sour.
Then, I dreamed of a fireside sipping cocktail along the lines of a Boulevardier or Manhattan—dark, sexy, heady, and strong. As with many of my creative pursuits, I took my cue from the brilliant and distinguished staff of Below Deck and their communal passion for espresso martinis. Thus, the Hazelnut Coffee Bourbontini was born.
Okay fine, it is a good idea to have something in your belly while you suck down a high ABV mélange. In order to complement the caramel, woodsy, vanilla, and nutty notes of bourbon, I put together a peanut-and-Triscuit driven snack mix with Sichuan peppercorns, coconut flakes, and crunchy bundles of dried ramen. Have you HAD the Mini Triscuits??? My God. I maintain that these tingly snacking peanuts complement the drinks instead of the other way around, but it’s a solid pairing however you approach it. Weirdly, the sour is as delightful with the snacking peanuts as the Bourbontini is. Go figure.
Apparently there’s a holiday coming up? You know what everyone forgets about?What to offer your guests when they walk in the door. A drink and a snack, that’s what. No, thank you!