Habañero Lemonade and Bourbon

The idea of a lemonade with the right amount of heat and the right kind of booze is a tricky thing to come by. To be honest, I was surprised at how well this particular experiment turned out, but it’s a perfect storm of flavors. The lemonade and Bourbon go remarkably well together, and the habañero flavor kicks in right at the end. The great thing about using the habañero is that it gives you distinctive “spice” without a pronounced vegetable flavor often encountered with jalapeño infusions.

To start, you have to make or buy your lemonade. Since I’m all about the DIY, I made my own. Also, this is remarkably easy; it literally takes less than five minutes, so in my opinion making your own is always the way to go! As I was making this to mix with booze, I made it a little stronger (sweeter and more lemon-y) than I would just a plain lemonade, and it made for a better tasting cocktail.

The Lemonade:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (concentrated)
• Juice of 1 fresh lemon (optional)
• 6 cups water

First you need a simple syrup. Add the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of water to a pan and heat on a low setting. Stir the mixture until all the sugar dissolves and then dump the syrup into your vessel of choice. Add the rest of the ingredients, minus 1/2 cup of water. I had to use concentrated lemon juice because that’s all I could find, but I put in a little of the fresh squeezed stuff for texture. If you use only fresh squeezed juice, you’ll have to use more of it-let your taste buds be the judge. Do keep in mind that this should be a little strong, and that you’re also making it for yourself. The recipe is based on what tasted good to me, but you may want to add a little more or less of the ingredients.

The Habañero:

If you’re not familiar with them, habañeros are some of the hottest peppers around, with some varieties being 100 times hotter on the Scoville scale than your average jalapeño. They range in color from light green to deep red, and the closer they get to red the stronger they are. Mine were orange, which Is considered a medium strength – relatively speaking; on a personal note, I once ate a whole habañero and it was a six hour odyssey of pain, so be *very* careful when you’re handling this thing!

I poured one pint of my lemonade into a jar and added a sliced habañero with the seeds removed. For easy removal I wrapped it in cheesecloth, but a coffee filter would also work. I then tossed the mixture into the fridge, and after an hour and a half it had just the right amount of spice. I checked on the lemonade about every half hour, and I’d recommend you do the same. If you let it sit too long, the habañero will be the only thing you taste.

The Cocktail:

I used Bulleit Bourbon (again) because it’s decent and fairly cheap, but go ahead and use something else if you’d like. The Bourbon flavor does come through in this, so I wouldn’t use anything you couldn’t drink straight.

Simply combine the following and enjoy:

• 1 part bourbon
• 3 parts habanero lemonade
• ice

Or, blend the whole thing and enjoy a kickass frozen drink!

Cheers!

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• More fantastic bourbon amazingness
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• BLT Cocktails!
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