Horsefeather (Ryan Maybee)
Build over ice in a Collins glass.
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.
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.)
- Read more about Horsefeather (Ryan Maybee)
- 3 comments
- Log in or register to post comments
- Nom de plume — Rye, Elderflower liqueur, Orange bitters, Ginger beer
- Pickett's Revenge — Rye, Ginger beer, Mint
- Kentucky Mule — Bourbon, Ginger beer, Lime juice, Mint
- Mamie Taylor Cocktail — Blended Scotch, Ginger beer, Lime juice, Lime
- Glasgow Mule — Blended Scotch, Elderflower liqueur, Bitters, Ginger beer, Lemon juice
Curated to include some of the history. I have changed this to an altered recipe and attached Ryan Maybee's name to it since this is his specific version which would not have been possible in the 1990's when the drink was developed. I also made a curator's note about using rye whiskey as an alternative to more closely resemble the original. I am not sure if a different/separate original recipe is warranted, because it evolved so much that I wouldn't know what to list for the original. (See the Epicurious archive link for more detail on this.)
I haven't tried the version with Rieger's Kansas City Whiskey, but I have tried it a couple of times with rye (Rittenhouse, and Wild Turkey 101 rye). The combination of rye, ginger, and the generous amount of Angostura, with the small amount or lemon juice really works, 4.5 stars.
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 and had a mix substitution for it (Sprite, soda water, Peychaud's and a bit of Coca Cola.)