This is the last installment in a series on Bourbon by Zach Pearson. Read them all: Bourbon, Bourbon After the Act, Bourbon: What it is ... and isn't, Making Bourbon, Who Makes My Bourbon, Producer Capsules., Finding the Good Stuff, Tasting the Good Stuff, Neat, Mashbills, Geeky Information and Resources.
As a note, I can’t claim credit for any of this. This section is the work of a couple of users on the StraightBourbon.com website, mainly Josh, Oscar and a guy named Taanstafl2 – and see the note just below. But it’s too important to leave out even if it’s a bit more advanced.
For mashbills, I referred to The Book of Bourbon and Other Fine American Whiskeys by Regan & Regan, 2009, unless otherwise noted. Barton, WT, and Dickel are noted as approximate.
I use the format: Distillery Brand Name (%corn/%rye or wheat/%malted barley). This is a breakdown of "macro" distillers. Wondering what the different char levels look like? This is a good illustration.
Curated to add history, creator, 2003 or earlier creation date, and location. The original may have used ginger ale rather than ginger beer, and Angostura is typically not associated with Sammy Berry's version, but I have left this in because it all works and I am leaving the listing as an "altered recipe" due to the uncertainties.
My wife and I both like this with the original proportions. Changing to 2 oz Rittenhouse (100 proof) shifts toward rye heat unless there is substantial ice dilution, so it depends on how much bite one prefers and/or how wet the mixing ice is. 2 oz would be a better choice for those using 80 proof ryes though. The Cocchi/Bonal/Cynar combo is a good one that is also used in NoMad's Broadway (only 1 oz rye, and with a barspoon of Luxardo marachino liqueur.)
I have been wondering if this version of the drink appeared before the "Bicycle Thief" using gin/Campari/red grapefruit juice. That one is courtesy of Dutch Kills in New York, which opened in 2009, but I don't know if it was one of their early cocktails. Anyone have more info on the relative timing of the two drinks?
Agree. Not deeply remarkable.
Note that the NoMad Cocktail book actually lists the recipe as 1 tsp "cold brew coffee concentrate" rather than a more dilute coffee. The concentrate cold brew is given as ~4:1 water to coffee by weight (2 kg to 455 g specifically.) The book also has double the number of dashes of bitters, but it states that those are from Japanese dasher bottles, so the dash count in the link and in the current KC listing are probably correct for more typical dash volumes. Final note is that the grapefruit twist is expressed and discarded rather than being retained as a garnish (stated in the book, but not in link.)
The pumpkin doesn't seem to do anything to this. All I get is lemony applejack.