Cocktail suggestions for quality newer-make bourbons?

[dmarkle]

I've got a bunch of bottles lying around the collection that need to go. They're very new (about 2 years, some under). They still have a pretty pronounced graininess to them. I have to be honest, I just don't enjoy them straight.

Any suggestions of what cocktails do well with a grainier, newer whiskey (recipes please!)? I normally drink my bourbon straight up, so this is sort of new territory for me.

My Inventory of young stuff which needs to go:

• Smooth Ambler Yearling
  
• BT White Dog
  
• Dry Fly Washington Wheat
  
• Roundstone Rye
  
• Belmont Farm Kopper Kettle
  

EDIT: Upon further review, I recognize that only one of these whiskies is actually bourbon...

Edited November 9, 2014 by dmarkle

[bllygthrd]

I use the expressions I don't/won't drink in cooking.

[Harry in WashDC]

Broken record here - Over on the "What cocktail . . ." thread (post 239, 21 Oct 2014) and again on a white whiskey thread, I linked to, or at least mentioned, a Saveur mag article titled 'Whiskey Rebellion' from August 2011 (issue 141) that featured some newer, young, or "craft" whiskeys in recipes developed by bartenders around the country. My wife and I have worked our way through them all and liked most of them, particularly since some of them use the grainy taste of young whiskey to advantage. Link is:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-a...skey-Rebellion

Disclosure: I have no professional or financial interest in Saveur or the brands listed. I just like to drink and have been doing so (legally) for over 48 years and have an abiding desire to help young folks flatten their learning curve. Enjoy.

Oh, and one of the Smoknjoes has posted his corn whiskey Bloody Mary with Bacon recipe. Many of the younger whiskeys, but particularly the young bourbons, work in that as well.

[fivedime]

I have found you can often get interesting Old Fashioneds and Manhattans out of younger and white whiskeys. Old Fashioneds, work with the fruits you use and sweetness level to get something that works. Manhattans...use orange or blood orange bitters.

Young corn whiskeys and white dogs work well to make apple pie...not a cocktail so much as a process to some jars of fun. Feel free to email me if you would like some recipes...although be aware it requires large pots to cook in and simple canning (jarring) processes. Mellow Corn makes a hell of a pie!

There are folks down here in the South that swear by mixing things like Mountain Dew, Sun Drop, or Squirt with white and young whiskeys. YMMV...personally I question their breeding LOL. Then there's always the "...and Red Bull" route...which might not make a great drink, but if you're drinking with others no one will want to swipe it LOL.

Finally, not to rain on anyone's parade since I prefer not to mock folks for what they like or don't like, but to my mind BT White Dog is proof that while some great whiskeys come from great white dogs worth drinking, not all do. ;-)

[dmarkle]

I have found you can often get interesting Old Fashioneds and Manhattans out of younger and white whiskeys. Old Fashioneds, work with the fruits you use and sweetness level to get something that works. Manhattans...use orange or blood orange bitters.

Young corn whiskeys and white dogs work well to make apple pie...not a cocktail so much as a process to some jars of fun. Feel free to email me if you would like some recipes...although be aware it requires large pots to cook in and simple canning (jarring) processes. Mellow Corn makes a hell of a pie!

There are folks down here in the South that swear by mixing things like Mountain Dew, Sun Drop, or Squirt with white and young whiskeys. YMMV...personally I question their breeding LOL. Then there's always the "...and Red Bull" route...which might not make a great drink, but if you're drinking with others no one will want to swipe it LOL.

Finally, not to rain on anyone's parade since I prefer not to mock folks for what they like or don't like, but to my mind BT White Dog is proof that while some great whiskeys come from great white dogs worth drinking, not all do. ;-)

Most of this was out of curiosity. I actually think I might try to make a variation on a Manhattan with a dash or two of Compass Box Orangerie (I might even make a margarita with that stuff!)

[dmarkle]

Tonight it was 2 parts Smooth Ambler yearling. 3 dashes Angostura bitters. 1 part sugar-water. 1 part Compass Box Orangerie. Ice. NOT TOO SHABBY.

[Harry in WashDC]

While waiting for a junk truck to pick up stuff today, I cleaned out my 3X5 card file of drink recipes which really is a once-a-year project intended to remind me of what's in there as few, if any, get pitched. Found these white/young whiskey recipes:

Katrina (made up while watching the Katrina mess on TV)

2 oz. white whiskey

6 oz. lime soda

juice from 1/2 tangerine

2 teaspoons of grenadine

rocks in an Old Fashioned glass

Livorno (variation of a Jason Wilson 'Boozehound' recipe)

1.5 oz. young bourbon

3/4 oz. Tuaca

Peychaud's bitters

maraschino cherry w/ some of its juice

strain into a martini glass or relish the fact you have ice and have it over rocks

the Tuaca & the Mara juice cover up shortcomings in a young bourbon

Lady Marmalade (made up when we had too much homemade grapefruit marmalade to eat so we drank it)

2 oz. bourbon

2 oz. marmalade

3 oz. or so of lemon-lime soda like Sprite

3 dashes Fee Bros basic bitters or Angostura (but Fee Bros gives a slightly different taste to sweet stuff)

Mix the whiskey and marmalade a lot - even let it sit awhile and go do something else

Add ice in an Old Fashioned glass or a Collins glass, depending on the next step

Taste and then add the Sprite or 7-Up or whatever until you like the taste.

If too sweet, make another drink, cutting back on marmalade and increase the bitters

White Manhattan (Jason Wilson again in the WashPost 3/3/2010; he based this on a drink by Neyah White of Nopa in San Fran.)

1.5 oz. white whiskey (like Copper Fox, Death's Door; I've used Virginia Lightning, too, but be careful with it as it is really raw)

1/2 oz. Benedictine

1/2 oz. Blanc Vermouth (NOT "dry" white vermouth, but "blanc" white vermouth)

3 or so dashes orange bitters (Regan's or Fee Bros)

In a shaker, stir then strain into chilled martini glass

[brettckeen]

Don't fear blending the young crafty stuff with older more affordable stuff to round out your base spirit. Ewbib and owa come to mind

[TunnelTiger]

Too lazy to mix and feel too guilty to pour down the drain so I have started giving to a friend that doesn't mind an open bottle and is not particular with what he drinks.

[johnnyflake45]

I have not been much of a cocktail person in the past but I have tried a few recently and I am enjoying them. With the summer months almost here, I am wondering which are some of your favorite, hot weather cocktails. Not straight booze cocktails but ones that you add a few ounces of juice, water, soda, etc. and/or a dash of bitters or a piece of lime and so on. I will appreciate your suggestions.

[tanstaafl2]

I have not been much of a cocktail person in the past but I have tried a few recently and I am enjoying them. With the summer months almost here, I am wondering which are some of your favorite, hot weather cocktails. Not straight booze cocktails but ones that you add a few ounces of juice, water, soda, etc. and/or a dash of bitters or a piece of lime and so on. I will appreciate your suggestions.

My Favorite Mechanic is a Women is one of my favorites but it is a bit on the sweeter side. It also require an egg white. I typically use pasteurized egg white from the grocery store not so much because I am worried about raw eggs but because I hate to waste the yolk. It has an easy 1:1:1:1 ratio but does require that you dry shake (shake ingredients without ice first, then shake with ice). The egg white adds more texture than flavor and makes it frothy and light. Perfect for summer.

My Favorite Mechanic is a Women

1 oz Bourbon

1 oz limoncello

1 oz lemon juice

1 oz Ginger liqueur (I usually use Canton)

1 egg white

Dry shake vigorously for about a minute (a long time!) then shake with ice another 30 seconds or so and pour in a tall Collins glass with ice. Garnish with a cherry.

Drinks in the "Fizz" category are typically egg white drinks and many can be nice summer drinks.

[Harry in WashDC]

Thanks for the MFM is a W. Nice idea. We still have some limoncello my wife made, and I have made a similar drink without the ginger but with the egg white & simple syrup. She's a baker so I usually have frozen egg white available. I'm doing ribs in a few weeks and think I'll do a pitcher of MFM to use up some young craft bourbon on the back of the shelf.

Johnny, any of the younger bourbons with better fruit sodas from, say, Wegman's (blood orange, Sicilian lemon, etc.) work well as classic highballs (which traditionally were made with ginger ale): in a double Old Fashioned glass, 2 oz. bourbon, sufficient ice to last through the drink (the hotter it is, add more ice), and fill the glass with soda. Keep the bourbon around to top up the drink as it gets watery, if desired.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Harry in WashDC
clarify "pitcher of this"

[jsrudd]

Chuck Cowdery posted a good recipe on his blog recently for a derivative of a mint julip.

My wife tried it by herself one night and though it was so good that she made one for me a couple of days later. Best of all, the grape fruit juice keeps the mint leaves green for the duration of the drink!