American Whiskey Cocktails

With the weather getting better, the thought of sitting outside with a nice cocktail just sounds glorious. So I had chat with everyone around here and decided to put together a list of some of our favourite American whiskey cocktails!

Kentucky Buck – w/ Maker’s Mark

A harvest of sweetness and spice with fresh strawberry, citrus, bourbon and ginger beer. Just right for right now, this buck gets its perfect kick from deliciously bold Maker’s Mark.

Ingredients

2 parts Maker’s Mark Bourbon
1/2 part fresh lemon juice
2–3 whole strawberries, hulled
1 dash Angostura Bitters
Ginger beer
Fresh strawberry for garnish

FORBIDDEN SOUR – w/ Elijah Craig

Take your whiskey sour to new heights with this Bourbon & Pomegranate cocktail.

INGREDIENTS

1.5 oz. Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon
1 oz. Pomegranate Flavored Liqueur
.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
.5 oz. Simple Syrup
2 dashes of Angostura Bitters

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain cocktail into glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

MINT JULEP – w/ Knob Creek

INGREDIENTS

1 ¹/₂ PARTS Knob Creek
2 BUNCHES mint
1 PART simple syrup
1 SPLASH soda

DIRECTIONS

In a julep cup, mix the mint sprigs with simple syrup and a splash of soda.
Add fine crushed ice and pour in the bourbon.
Lift out two mint leaves for garnish.
Add powdered sugar over mint to add an optional frosted appearance.

Handsome Devil – w/ Smooth Ambler

Ingredients

2 oz Old Scout American Whiskey
.75 oz Lillet Blanc
.75 oz Simple syrup (1 to 1)
.50 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Dashes of Peach Bitters
3 Mint Leaves

Preparation

Combine all of the ingredients in an ice filled Boston Shaker. Shake thoroughly then double strain into a chilled rocks glass that is filled with ice. Garnish with a twist of Orange.

Sugar Shack – w/ WhistlePig

Ingredients

2 oz WhistlePig Rye Whiskey Aged 10 Years
¼ oz Maple Syrup
¾ oz fresh Lemon Juice
½ oz Blackberry Simple Syrup
¼ oz Pimento Dram or Allspice Dram
2 dashes Maple Bitters
Star Anise for garnish

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a shaker.
Add ice to the shaker.
Shake.
Fill your favorite tiki mug with pearl ice.
Strain into mug.
Garnish with star anise and your favorite tropical adornments.
Enjoy!

Currently Sipping WhistlePig 10

I’ve been on a WhistlePig kick this week. So I thought I’d share this Friday’s tipple. Today we are enjoying the wonderful WhistlePig 10 year. As a big fan of the Farmstock bottlings, it’s been a while since I have sat down to enjoy this 10.

I have said before that we are very fond of the products that the Vermont distillery crafts. A wonderfully unique farm distillery that are doing a great job at elevating Rye whiskey to more fun and interesting levels. They started off their whiskey making adventures by importing all their rye from Canada, and in 2015 they started the adventures of distilling their own liquid.

The 10 year old is using 100% of the Canadian rye, that WhistlePig said they “rescued the stock from misuse as a blending whiskey.” After bringing in the liquid into Vermont it is aged in new American oak and then hand bottled. Using 100% rye is pretty rare these days, so it makes it that much more special. Maybe in 2025/2026 we’ll get 100% WhistlePig distilled spirit, until then I am happy to keep enjoying this.

This is a tasty full-flavoured rye whiskey. Fragrant whiffs of peppermint, charred oak, and fresh grown herbs. Big mouthful of butterscotch, cinnamon, sweet vanilla, and a tongue coating of the rye spiciness.

Try a bottle here if you are in the market for a rye! It’s no wonder it’s as highly awarded as it is.

WhistlePig Distillery

If you are not already aware of the WhistlePig Distillery, we are here to help you with that! Transforming from a Vermont dairy farm into rye whiskey making powerhouse is not the normal distillery story, but it is one of the things that makes them special!

The distillery’s dream was to make WhistlePig a leader in bringing genuine rye whiskey back to the forefront of the American whiskey market. Their whiskey making journey started by buying up stock of a 10 year old Canadian blending whiskey, that they believe wasn’t being utilized properly. From there, the vision of WhistlePig was to become a distillery that handles all aspects of the whiskey making process. From growing the grain on the farm to bottling in-house, that was achieved!

They are using their 500+ acre farm in Vermont to experiment and produce some of the best rye whiskies you’ll be able to enjoy! And this isn’t one of those farms some companies use for marketing purposes, it is a fully working farm with a multitude of animals calling WhistlePig home. They even have 20 acres of maple trees that they tap for syrup. *Side note: Vermont maple syrup is delicious!

The way they look at improving and making their whiskey better, is how all companies should approach their own products. A lot can be said about how they strive to be better.

“With every step of the Whiskey making process we ask ourselves 3 questions:
“How was this done in the past?”
“Have we learned anything since then that can make this better?”
“Is there another way to do this that’s worth exploring?”
More often than not the answer is there’s always something worth exploring. We know the path forward isn’t always a straight line. So we push ourselves to innovate and we’re reassured by our mistakes. They’re what keep us great.”

Their whiskies include:

10 year old – 100 proof
12 year old – Finished in old world wine casks
15 year old – Finished in Vermont estate oak
Farmstock – Made from their grain, wood, and water
PiggyBack – 100% Rye and 96.56 Proof
18 year old – 79% rye, 15% malted rye, 6% malted barley
Boss Hog – Single Barrel, Barrel strength, and Finished in Umeshu Barrels