Validating Bourbon Priors
Now that we're adding ingredients, is Woodinville still the best choice?
It’s one thing to taste a bunch of spirits on their own and pick a favorite, but it’s quite another to choose the best spirit option for a cocktail. So, with that in mind, I’ve gone back and tested the “current” recipe with other bourbons to make sure I’m still on the right track.
A Tasting of Possible House Bourbon Expressions
Bourbon is what got me into cocktails, but I must admit I’ve gone away from it in recent years. I’m using the development of my house Old Fashioned to get back into the category and highlight an ingredient I’ve always loved. First things first: an Old Fashioned doesn’t necessarily have to be made with Bourbon. Truly any spirit works here, as long as it’s…
As a reminder, I decided last week that turbinado syrup was the best compliment to Woodinville based on a stronger nuttiness that best-accentuated my preferred whiskey notes (stone fruit and wood, generally). But now that the recipe is coming together, I wanted to revisit different Bourbons and see if any crafted a more cohesive cocktail.
I didn’t necessarily rank the Bourbons aside from choosing Woodinville as the winner, but for this exercise I brought back in Buffalo Trace as a #2 “standby” option.
The results surprised me a bit: the cocktails are extremely similar. I don’t think anyone would ever think that the Bourbons alone are the same juice in a blind tasting, but you might be able to convince someone that the two Old Fashioneds are identical and not have your bluff called. That’s great to know as a “backup” option, but it’s not very helpful in determining the “best” house recipe.
I’ve got a good, not great, palate so I had to dig deep to make some distinctions here. Overall, the Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned highlights more citrus notes and starts trending towards smoke on the finish. So, the deep stone fruit from Woodinville gets a bit lighter and the oakiness gets a little headier. I prefer the deeper flavors, so Woodinville still feels like the best option.
Now that the Bourbon and syrup are solidified, it’s time to turn to the final flourishes of the cocktail: the Bitters and the Garnish.