With the weather becoming colder and grayer, I’ve been craving whiskey drinks more – and my standby, a frosty beer, less and less. And while you can’t beat a top shelf Bourbon (Woodford, Makers Mark, Bakers, etc.) at room temperature in a glass with nothing else, the downside is that it’s an expensive way to catch a delicious buzz. I wasn’t too keen on moonlighting at the docks to support my cocktail fetish, so I came up with a cheaper alternative.

A good Bourbon has a full flavor that is less evident in it’s more wallet-friendly brethren. You can easily dull the sharpness and bite of any harsh liquor by adding some tonic, soda, or water, and Bourbon is no exception. But these cocktails usually taste too much like the ingredient they’re mixed with (more on this later). I was hoping to enhance the “Bourbonness” of the drink rather than mask it.

So, after some experimentation, here’s my solution to drinking even more of the bottle of expensive Bourbon that’s already half-empty…

Mix some Jim Beam with honey, maple syrup (actual maple syrup, not pancake syrup!) and a splash of water. Toss it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, and you’ve got a winner! You want the end result to be hot, but not boiling. The heat helps dissipate the honey and syrup and just makes it taste really, really good. As for the proportions, it’s roughly: 3 parts bourbon 1 part syrup 1 part honey 1 part water

I say “roughly” because depending on your personal taste or the mood you’re in, (or the brand you choose) you may want it sweeter, stronger, or lighter. The first time I made it exactly 3:1:1:1 and loved it, but each subsequent time altered the ratios very slightly at the end.

Also, go ahead and use a different Bourbon if you want, but Jim and I were roommates in college, so I called him up for the occasion.

Furthermore, while I was at the store picking up the honey and maple syrup, I also grabbed some ginger beer and ginger ale. Bourbon and ginger go well together, and I thought I’d do a little compare-and-contrast between the two as a potential mixer for my budget Bourbon.

Even though they each have ginger as the predominant flavor, there is a difference between the two, especially as a mixing ingredient. Ginger beer has much less carbonation than its counterpart. It has the “fizz” of well, a beer. Ginger ale, on the other hand, is all about carbonation-you can still taste the ginger, but it’s in the background. Based on that comparison, I decided to use the ginger beer as my main ingredient (next to the alcohol of course) in the next cocktail.

I made a few variations of just ginger beer and Bourbon, but they all tasted too plain. But after adding a couple old standby’s, it really came alive: 2 maraschino cherries, muddled in the glass 2oz Bourbon 2oz ginger beer squeeze of lime The result is a Bourbon cocktail I can live with: not too strong, not too fizzy, and all the flavors complement each other. You can even taste the Bourbon.

Cheers!

With the onset of cooler weather, I thought that a spiced bourbon would make for some pretty tasty cocktails, and I was right. Try out this recipe for spiced bourbon and you’ll agree.

To begin with, use a decent bourbon (Maker’s, Evan Williams Single Barrel will do). To make the spiced bourbon, you can use whatever spices you want-it’s all about personal taste. But since my personal taste is better than yours, you should follow these guidelines. For the infusion I chose cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and clove. Whatever spices you choose, use the whole (not ground) versions. If you do use nutmeg, crack the nut – don’t leave it whole.  I wrapped mine in cheesecloth and let them steep in the bourbon.

The key to this project is daily tasting.  Each spice will infuse its flavor at a different rate of speed, so you may have to add or remove them during the process.  When it tastes right, remove the spices.  If you wrap each spice separately in cheesecloth, it will be much easier to add or remove them.

Here’s the breakdown of ingredients in this case:

• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 nuts of nutmeg (cracked)
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. clove – clove comes on strong. I had to pull mine out after 3 days to keep everything balanced. The cinnamon and nutmeg took longer to impart their flavors.

I let my spices steep in the bourbon for seven days, but you could go longer or shorter depending on how intense you want the final product; I came up with two drinks for this, both served hot.

Spiced Bourbon Cider Use 1 part spiced bourbon and 2 parts apple cider, then heat in a microwave. Wipe a lemon wedge around the rim of the glass and put a spoonful or so of Sugar in the Raw on a plate and rub the rim of the glass over it.  This step is key-you need the sweetness of the sugar to balance out the spice of the bourbon. Once the cider/bourbon mixture is finished in the microwave, squeeze a lemon wedge over it and add a teaspoon of honey.  If you want to go balls deep, you can top it off with whipped cream, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Spiced Bourbon and Cider

Spiced Bourbon Old Fashioned

Spiced Bourbon Old Fashioned with Blood Orange You can make this with regular oranges, but it won’t be nearly as good. To start, wipe the rim of the glass with a slice of Blood Orange. Then, coat the rim with Sugar in the Raw – I added a bit of cinnamon as well to liven things up.  If you want to avoid the mess of coating the rim with sugar, muddle it in with the orange and cherries. Heat about 2.5 ounces of your bourbon. Next, muddle  a couple maraschino cherries and a decent slice of Blood Orange, along with a teaspoon of Maraschino Cherry juice if you have a sweet tooth.  I also tossed in a quarter ounce of Blood Orange juice to make it more user-friendly. Pour in the hot spiced bourbon. Add a splash of club soda; it really cleans up the taste of the drink and prevents it from being too sticky-tasting. On a final note; go easy on the Blood Orange!  It has an intense flavor, so if you add too much, you’ll wind up with a hot spicy orange juice.

CHEERS!