Rye Whiskey Tales

Today we are going to experiment with making two extraordinary cocktail drinks by using Rye Whiskey (you can use any rye whiskey that you have.)

What is Rye Whiskey?

Rye whiskey commonly known as American whiskey is made of 51% of Rye. Best rye whiskeys are made by mashing rye, corn, and malted barley in a barrel. It was found in the early 1800s in Pennsylvania and then in other parts of America which had a spicy-grainy taste to it and were considered perfect to prepare any cocktails.

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Coke-Coffee Cocktail

As we speak of it, you might be imagining tasting the cocktail already. I came across this recipe from the bar of ‘The Dewberry Charleston’ online. And I am glad to share it with all of you. So, the recipe doesn’t require a lot of hard work and is easy to make. All you need is a few basic ingredients and a bottle of any Rye whiskey. The coke and coffee can be a tasteful combination when mixed. The drink will have both bitter and sweet taste with a perfect amount of spicy splash from the rye whiskey. This cocktail when consumed can give you a fresh kick, it can be a party starter or an evening takeaway. The recipe is similar to ‘Colorado Bull Dog cocktail’ but is still very different, as it is made using vodka instead of rye whiskey, while other ingredients remain the same. So, in case you are out of whiskey this lockdown and have vodka with you, go ahead and make a cocktail with that.

Ingredients

• 1 ounce Rittenhouse Rye (considered the best rye whiskey)
• 0.25-ounce Bitters
• 0.25 ounce of vermouth (orange flavoured wine or juice)
• 1 ounce of espresso
• 1 dash chocolate bitters
• 1 ounce of Coca-Cola, to top

Method

Add all the ingredients to a shaker leaving coca-cola behind, once everything is in the shaker, give it a good shake. Add chocolate bitters and do the same. The next step would be to strain the liquid with a strainer in a whiskey glass and pour in the coca-cola on top of the drink and garnish the drink with an orange wheel. And voila there you go, cheers to a unique blend of flavours!

The Boston Sour Cocktail

This is another unique blend of flavours in a cocktail glass. It might sound very unusual but a lot of cocktails have added egg whites in it, especially in whiskey sours. And today we are going to prepare one such whiskey sour cocktail. As believed, this recipe first appeared in William Schmidt’s 1892 ‘The flowing Bowl’ book. It was the time of prohibition in America when this recipe became popular and egg white would be used to make it a bootlegger drink. It might sound a little risky to use egg white if you are not a professional but it's worth the try. The Boston whiskey is one of the best versions of whiskey sours and can be prepared by the simple use of ingredients.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces of Rye whiskey
• ¾ Ounce of fresh lemon juice
• ¾ ounce of simple syrup (you can make it by adding water and sugar)
• 1 egg white
• Bitters
• Orange wheel to garnish

Method

So, to make the Boston cocktail add all the ingredients in a shaker, which is lemon juice, simple syrup, rye whiskey, and bitters of your choice. After that, add 1/2 egg white to it. Now comes the tricky part: to make this cocktail successful, you need to do some dry shaking which means mixing all the ingredients in the shaker without putting ice in it. Once it’s done then you can add ice to the shaker and shake again. Strain the drink into a cocktail glass and you can see egg froth getting gathered on the top of the glass, indicating that the drink has been prepared successfully.

Lastly to decorate the fancy top you can add bitters and garnish it with some lemon zest to it on top. I hope the explanation and process could help you churn out the best cocktails by yourself and accompany you to enjoy amid lockdown.

From the April-May 2021 issue of FHM India.