Easy Holiday Treat

[cowdery]

Here's an easy holiday treat. Take a bottle of your favorite bourbon and insert one candy cane.

More power to you if you can get one of the crook-shaped ones in without breaking it.

It looks festive and, in time, the candy cane will dissolve, adding a minty sweetness to the liquor.

Now, and this is very important, as soon as the candy cane is in the bottle you must take a black marker and mark out the word "bourbon" wherever it appears on the label. Certain people will give you a lot of flak if you don't.

[funknik]

that's funny, Chuck, but shouldn't I use my least favorite bourbon?

[ratcheer]

Here's an easy holiday treat. Take a bottle of your favorite bourbon and insert one candy cane.

Chuck, I remember having that served to me at a New Year's Eve party sometime shortly after I graduated high school, so around 1970 or so. It was just a family gathering, not a big, fancy party. Country people, if you will.

Anyway, it was delicious.

Tim

[cowdery]

Chuck, I remember having that served to me at a New Year's Eve party sometime shortly after I graduated high school, so around 1970 or so. It was just a family gathering, not a big, fancy party. Country people, if you will.

Anyway, it was delicious.

Tim

I got the idea from a tour guide at Jack Daniel's, who carries the bottle all day in the pocket of his overalls so it agitates and the candy dissolves faster.

[cas]

Sounds intriguing. What's a good candidate whiskey to use? Not too expensive or overpowering I would think.
Craig

[TNbourbon]

Sounds intriguing. What's a good candidate whiskey to use? Not too expensive or overpowering I would think.
Craig

You'll want to use something with of a rye recipe, not wheat. This is an old-fashioned, pre-Prohibition treat (c. 1875-1880, by some accounts) that is a progenitor, with fruit added, to today's Rock & Rye (rock candy and rye whiskey).
I've enjoyed it with Wild Turkey and VOB, and especially with some straight ryes, ranging from Old Overholt to VWFFR. I've also been known to simply let a peppermint stick sit awhile in a poured glass of rye, then enjoy the candy and the whiskey seperately, but at the same time.

[cowdery]

I know it won't surprise Tim to hear me say this is a job for Very Old Barton BIB.

[callmeox]

Can I be the one who does not like this idea?



Peppermint candy...no can do. I had a bad experience with high proof peppermint schnapps in college.

[ThomasH]

So you got to be "Ralph" with the "not so fresh" minty breath!

Thomas

[smokinjoe]

I've been doing this every year for the Holidays, since Chuck rec'd it here a couple of years ago. It's good. Particularly as a late night nip. Go easy on the candy canes, though. Error on the light side. You can always add more CC's if necessary, and they dissolve pretty quickly.