Instructions
Build over ice in a Collins glass.
Notes
Recipe calls for a "squeeze" of lemon.
Curator's note: To make the most common variation of the original Lawrence, Kansas version of the drink (or if Rieger's is unavailable) use a rye whiskey.
History
This is Ryan Maybee's popular Kansas City take on the cocktail created in Lawrence, Kansas in the early 1990's. His version uses a blended whiskey (which includes some Oloroso sherry) that he was a partner in creating in ~2014. The original used rye whiskey (Old Overholt in particular.)
Cocktail summary
Created by
Ryan Maybee, Manifesto, Kansas City, MO
Is an
altered recipe
Reference
Whiskey, Bitters, Ginger beer, Lemon
PT5M
PT0M
Cocktail
Cocktail
1
craft, alcoholic
3.66667
3
Just to be clear, Ryan Maybee didn't claim ownership of the Horsefeather or to have created it, although this is his particular take on the cocktail. Instead he revived the cocktail/expanded its reach and has researched its origins per https://web.archive.org/web/20171205142744/https://www.nytimes.com/2017…
He said that the drink appeared in Lawrence, Kansas in the 1990's and as a result "More than one old bartender claims they were flying through Old Overholt rye in Lawrence in the 1990s."
A more involved treatment of the Lawrence origins of the drink can be found in https://web.archive.org/web/20230601180407/https://www.epicurious.com/e… Here, the origin story is much more convoluted, credit is claimed by Jeremy Sidener in 1991 or 92 influenced by a Gaz Regan "Horse Feathers" drink published in 1991. The early Lawrence version used Old Overholt Rye but lacked ginger ale had mix substitution for it (sprite, soda water, Peychaud's and a bit of Coca Cola.)