For the vanilla, there are a few things that you may want to consider. First, there is a vanilla brandy/congnac (I want to say it’s called Vana or something like that – this is where Google is our friend) which is supposed to be very vanilla-y and quite tasty. But I don’t know how much flavor the base spirit (congnac/brandy) will conflict/alter the bourbon though. Second, would be a vanilla simple syrup. Get a vanilla bean or two from Penzy’s and make a simple syrup with them, but use some cheesecloth or coffee filters as a final filtering tool to get all the little seeds out of the final product. Finally, you could make a vanilla gastrique that could add a lot of dimension to the cocktail. It would provide the vanilla, the sweet and hints of savory/tart with the vinegar. The simple syrup or gastrique would be my first two choices, if nothing else you get to play mad scientist in the kitchen for a bit.

I know you want to make the drink easily accessible, but I would shy away from vanilla schnapps because the flavor would be artifical . . . way too many chemicals. It would also seem to be the antithesis of using fresh ingrediants.

Those are my thoughts for now. I’m sure something else will come to me later.

The orange was kind of a whim, but I have to say, it did hit my sweet tooth quite nicely!

I’m not tied to the orange, but I’d like to keep the vanilla and bourbon. I’ve just been debating what else to add – maybe I’ll try with vanilla schnapps and the whiskey barrel aged bitters.

But we shall discuss.

I was thinking about that earlier. What initially came to mind was a black and tan, with a particularly golden beer, to try to get the colors.

Pittsburgh though is kind of a blue collar town. Shot and a beer kind of place you know.

But what kind of liquor is most prolific in that part of PA? I left the area before becoming really cognizant of alcohol, though most of my relatives in that area seem to drink Crown Royal. I keep thinking something Rye based…maybe apple and rye? Hmmm….