So I’m starting the experimentation.
1 1/2 ounces bourbon (Maker’s Mark)
1/2 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce orange juice
1/4 ounce double strength vanilla extract (Penzey’s)
1/4 ounce rich simple syrup
2 drops orange flower water (Fee’s)
two dashes whiskey barrel aged bitters (Fee’s)
dash orange bitters (Regan’s)
stirred (since I sprained my wrist and can’t shake)
This ain’t bad.
It still needs something, but it’s not far off from what I’m working on.
![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
, I’m looking at you – we’re going to have to see what we can do here!
And anyone else that has suggestions…shaking would’ve helped it a bit more.
SeanMike – you should come up w/ some type of special drink for the Steelers. And, maybe one for when we win, and one when we lose!
I figure this is Lusk…
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….
Hmmmm . . . very orangy. For some reason I have the taste of a bourbon flavored creamsicle in my mind. I think a little discussion is needed so I can help flesh out the idea. What are you trying to accomplish? The taste of a memory, something from your childhood, something to pour down the throats of impressionable females? Basically, I don’t want to make suggestions without knowing the thought process behind the ingrediants you chose. It’s your drink afterall.
But we shall discuss.
I was going for a mix of vanilla and bourbon, hoping to accentuate what are often vanilla overtones in the whiskey by using vanilla extract.
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.
Okay, that helps. One of the things that was throwing me off was the orange. It made me think “summer” and “tiki” rather than a “winter drink.” But then you said “whiskey barrel aged bitters” and I started thinking of spiced cider, mulled wine, etc. and maybe those types of flavors along with the bourbon and orange would be a really good fit and match the “winter” drink motif.
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.