Bourbon and cola

[WsmataU]

If I mix bourbon, its typically with ginger ale. To be specific, I'm not a big Makers Mark fan, but do enjoy it iced with ginger.

I completely agree! Makers has a strong enough flavor that it can stand up well to most sodas. I love to have a bourbon and ginger when I'm out, but I also agree with the general concensus that "good" bourbon should be drunk without the addition of soda. It is a bit like making sangria out of your best bottle of red wine!

[WsmataU]

Oh....And just to be a pain in the arse...JD IS NOT BOURBON!!!!

Keep that sugar water south of the border!

[Gillman]

Here is a suggestion for those who like bourbon and coke and Manhattans. The Italians have a well-known soft drink called "brio" (I think that word means "zest of life").

This is quite good, it is spicy and a little bitter (bitter-sweet in effect). It has some resemblance Dr. Pepper, say, but with its own stamp.

The herbs and spices in Brio are somewhat like those in red vermouth (also usually from Italy), but with a cola-like backdrop.

So using Brio instead of Coke produces a kind of combination of two well-known drinks.

I would think most big supermarkets (anywhere) would carry Brio, certainly in any city of any size.

Gary

[Lionhoo]

Bourbon and coke was a staple drink while I was an undergrad. I still enjoy it but have moved on to diet coke (or coke zero) with a twist of lemon. We drank B&Cs every football season (well, not the only time, but the most memorable) and to this day my first drink every first Saturday of college football season is a large B&C. There is just that wonderful smell/memory association that takes me back . . .

Cheers,

Marshall

[anacostiakat]

I drink my bourbon a lot of different ways. Straight, OTR, with diet pepsi occasionally and with water (mixed or back). It depends on setting and mood. Sometimes a tall boy with a mixer allows me to "stretch" it a little more.

[polyamnesia]

an early, beginner's habit i had at first...and actually started with Old Charter...

JD(not bourbon!) is maybe best if colafied!:grin:

but i plan to give GJack a NEAT try soon....small bottle on sale in PA for $9.99...but can't find it yet!

[Thesh]

Never actually tried bourbon and coke. I like Wild Turkey Rye with some coke in it on ocassion, and have have had jack and coke and rum and coke (used to drink it all the time at the bowling alley when the lanes were having their way with me). I generally don't like mixed drinks unless I want to drink it fast, but the wild turkey rye and coke is delightful.

[polyamnesia]

does anyone go beyond the acknowledged quality of Coca Cola??? it's got the right tang.

what other colas have you tried?

seems Pepsi and Royal Crown are too SWEET.

then there are those nice, 'top shelf' colas...

on an almost unrelated note, has anyone mixed bourbon or something else with root beer or Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer??? i like the tang of birch.

there there's sassafras...

[ILLfarmboy]

As late as around 1980 Stutt's Drug Store in Aledo Illinois still sold Coke syrup. Did anyone ever add a bit of additional syrup to their bourbon or Jack and Coke.

[OscarV]

Hey Brad, what exactly is coke syrup?

I remember as a kid once we were visiting my Aunt in Chicago and she wanted to stop at a drug store for coke syrup.

It intriged me even then that this was sold only at drug stores.

[ACDetroit]

My mom use to give it to us for stomache ache etc. It was very good and just as stated Coke Syrup, nothing fancy. I never looked for it once I was old enough to drink. Sounds funny to me kind of like adding more caffine to my coffee??:grin:

Tony

[chilidawg7]

Pepsi is a tad sweet for my tastes. I definitely enjoy a bourbon and cola occasionally, and I find myself using Coke Zero or Cherry Coke Zero as of late. Not as good as the real thing, but way better than Diet.

A fellow SB.com member turned me on to Old Forester and Barq's root beer and he was definitely right about that one. Mmmm...

[DoubleT]

To date I have never met a bourbon I didn't like....straight up on the rocks. If I want something mixed with Coke I'll drink rum. It's mildly sweet on it's own and the coke blends well with it. But bourbon....never! And the higher quality the bourbon the more I hate the idea of mixing it. I have recently turned my brother. He finally got to the point he would drink more bourbon than beer. Then I got him turned on to Maker's Mark (my personal favorite) and have since got him drinking his bourbon neat or on the rocks, and in no other manner. He thanked me. I've been wanting to try Buffalo Trace for some time and my brother knew this. He also knew it wasn't available in OK so he was kind enough to bring me a bottle from TX. My brother does know how to say thank you. Cheers.

[DoubleT]

JD(not bourbon!) is maybe best if colafied!:grin:

but i plan to give GJack a NEAT try soon....

For a non-bourbon whiskey, Jack is nice and serves up very well on the rocks. I won't mix it with coke either. I think you will enjoy it.

[CorvallisCracker]

Back in FL I had a friend whose favorite drink was Rebel Yell and Coke. When I visited him I drank that as well, because the RY was better with Coke than without.

When we have a party, we do keep one Bourbon - EW BIB - at the "mixing station" - a table in the kitchen equipped with blender, cocktail shaker, ice and our "well" liquors and mixers.

We'll also stock up on Mexican Coke (available at a Mexican grocery store). Mexican Coke is sweetened with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. It also comes in glass bottle, shaped like, well, a coke bottle (remember those?).

The liquor cabinet (in the dining room) is where guests will find all the rest of the whiskies (and brandies and aged rums). This is set up with snifters, port glasses, and a small pitcher of filtered water.

[callmeox]

If I'm out with friends or out after my bowling league, and there's only well bourbon available, I'll get a bourbon and diet soda. I've been trying to talk the bar manager at the local bowling alley to bring in a bottle of BT to augment the OGD, JBW and Echo Springs that they currently stock.

[ILLfarmboy]

If I'm out with friends or out after my bowling league, and there's only well bourbon available, I'll get a bourbon and diet soda. I've been trying to talk the bar manager at the local bowling alley to bring in a bottle of BT to augment the OGD, JBW and Echo Springs that they currently stock.

How about gifting a bottle to the bar, so long as you drink free from it? I suppose it ain't legal but.......

[gblick]

Today I was at a bowling alley for the birthday party of a friend of my son's. Someone bought me a bourbon and Coke (which I haven't had in a very long time), and I was really surprised by how good it tasted. I asked the bar what kind of bourbon they used in it, and they held up a bottle and said it was their well bourbon. It was Early Times, go figure!

[spun_cookie]

against the origianal post:

I do not really liek bourbon and cola... it is OK, but Ido not prefer.... tonight someone poured me a bourbon and generic cola.... man did that suck... bourbon and coke is way the hell better..... bourbon and any other soda sucks ass

[d_nelly78]

I will mix the cheaper bourbons with ginger ale, but only a splash of ginger though. I prefer to start the night drinking the good stuff neat and then switch to the not as good bourbon and mixing it. I hate to waste my good stuff.

[callmeox]

Tonight, I had three bourbon/cola mixtures at various points of the evening, and I was surprised at how they were so different in how the whiskey stood up to the cola.

WT101 and Diet Coke: Not a great combo. The flavors of the WT were totally lost in the mix and all I could taste was the alcohol.

Knob Creek and Coke Zero: The most flavorful of the three. The best of the KC flavors came out through the cola and this was very yummy, almost decadent. I was at a friend's house for this and I wouldn't normally make this choice at home. For reference on why I would mix KC with cola, please see Chuck Cowdery's forum thread regarding "the best bourbon is free bourbon" :grin:

Ezra Brooks 90 and Coke Zero - nearly as good as the KC above. When I originally got the EB90 a couple of months ago and tried it straight and on the rocks, it hit me in all the wrong places and has been relegated to the back of the cabinet ever since. Even when I tasted it tonight on the rocks before mixing it, I got a really strong old cabbage flavor from it, but the mixer cleans that up for me and there's some sweetness that is really enjoyable. I think I found a new inexpensive mixer for summer evenings by the pool.

[Tennessee Dave]

I don't like any whiskey mixed with anything. The only mixed drinks I ever care for was a Pina Colada and a good margarita.

[jbaker]

I can see the bourbon and coke mix up to a point. I like the kinda herbal thing going on in the coke, mingling with the rye flavors of a decent (rye-)bourbon. But it's the diluted nature of cola that disappoints me...that and the excessive amount of sweetness. If I could have a nice bitter, herbal cola, the way it was supposed to be, made almost like a "bitter," than I'd be happy to mix in with bourbon. But until the US comes around to the bitter soda idea, well, I guess I'm stuck without a mixer.

[spun_cookie]

I will once in a blue moo mix bourbon and ginger ale, but I would rather mix two bourbons far sooner that put a bourbon with soda... if you really like coke and X... I have soem graet rums you can come drink with me... Most of them are made by pyrate of old monk

[OldJack]

Another vote here for bourbon and Coke Zero. Maker's and CZ is one of my favorite combos, but I also enjoy adding a splash of CZ to Buffalo Trace on the rocks.

Of course, bourbon and club soda with a twist of lime is noce.

Or bourbon on the rocks.

Or, well, you get the idea...