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DIY Bourbon Cocktails

Cocktail Hour in the Locker

Old Fashioned

You cannot get more classic than a classic Old Fashioned. This humble concoction of four ingredients—whiskey, sugar, bitters, and water—is quite literally the cocktail that started it all. It was that particular (and rather unremarkable) recipe that appeared alongside the first-ever printed use of the word “cocktail” way back in 1806. And decades later, the name “Old Fashioned” started getting tossed around in bars to describe said cocktail recipe. Yes, even the old-timers of the 1880s considered it to be an old-school drink. Since those sepia-toned days, the Old Fashioned has enjoyed illustrious comebacks as new generations of boozers have fallen for its simple charm. Our guess is human beings will be drinking Old Fashioneds until end times, because the damned drink will never not be cool.

All of which is to say, the Old Fashioned is a cocktail that’s been around for a while, and for good reason. The sweetness makes it smoother than a lot of other whiskey-based drinks, though it remains a strong-jawed, spirit-forward option. Fortunately, with few ingredients, it’s also an easy cocktail to master. We prefer ours with rye over bourbon.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 oz LBC One Cask Series Bourbon
  • 1 oz Simple Syrup
  • 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
  • 1 Orange Peel
  • 1 Luxardo Cherry

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Add LBC Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Simple Syrup, Bitters, and ice into a mixing glass.
  • Stir, then strain into a rocks glass with ice.
  • Garnish with an orange peel and a Luxardo cherry.

Manhattan

The Manhattan demands respect. It is brazen: a heavy pour of rye or bourbon, sweet vermouth, and aromatic bitters. It is rich, with strong flavors both spicier and sweeter. It is strong. You make it carefully, and then you sip it slowly.

In the annals of cocktail-making, the Manhattan is an all-around heavyweight champion. Rye or bourbon, cocktail cherry versus lemon twist or both. It’s a drink that lends itself to riffing should you be in the mood. While 2 ounces of whiskey to 1 ounce of sweet vermouth is the standard, going with 2.5 ounces of rye can make for a transcendent drink. Feel free to swap out bitters for variety, but you’ll find yourself coming home to Angostura 97% of the time. And an expressed lemon twist will take the drink to a higher plain.

Consider knowing how to make your Manhattan is like knowing how to properly shake hands. No weak wrists for the handshake. No ice in the cocktail. Have at it.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 oz LBC Ten x Ten Small Batch Rye (Substitute with LBC One Cask Bourbon)
  • 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • 2 Dashes Angostura bitters
  • 2-3 Luxardo Cherries

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Add Ten x Ten Small Batch Rye, sweet vermouth, and bitters into a mixing glass.
  • Stir, then strain into a chilled coupe glass.
  • Garnish with 2-3 Luxardo Cherries.

Whiskey Sour

The Whiskey Sour is at once wake-up call and comfort sipper. Sour as sin, it’ll jolt your palate awake and scrub it clean, as only something this caustic (but delicious) can. But at its core, it is a combination of things you like best, or else you wouldn’t be here: whiskey and lemon. Add sugar to make it friendly and egg white to give it body, and you’ve got a tart cocktail that’s simple to make and nourishing to drink. 

There are a thousand and one ways to make a Whiskey Sour, or very nearly. Here’s how we do ours. A note on the whiskey: Bourbon is traditional, and it’s sweeter side will help balance the drink, but you can also choose to lean into the tanginess with rye. Don’t muck it up by using a sour mix; like with all cocktail creation, fresh ingredients are best.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 oz LBC One Cask Series Bourbon
  • 1 oz fresh lemon
  • 1-1.5 oz simple syrup
  • 1 oz egg white
  • Float with red wine

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Add One Cask Series Bourbon, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white into a cocktail shaker without ice.
  • Shake for 30 seconds. Open the cocktail shaker and add ice, shake for another 30 seconds.
  • Double strain into a highball glass.

Boulevardier

The Negroni is a knock-out cocktail, but gin is not for everyone, and even if it were, this is Kentucky. So, enter stage right, the Boulevardier, a cocktail that swaps the gin for bourbon or rye whiskey, giving you a darker, heavier flavor with undertones that are hotter than they are herbaceous. Rye contributes even more spice. All while preserving the bitter sweetness of the Campari and vermouth.

Boulevardier recipes vary, like any classic cocktail. Some call for equal parts of all three ingredients, some call for ice. We call for neither, putting a heavier emphasis on the whiskey and serving it up to be all the bolder. Your whiskey choice matters here, so don’t cheap out. Sip your Boulevardier while the weather’s still cool. Who knows, you might abandon your Negroni tradition altogether.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 oz LBC One Cask Series Bourbon
  • 1 oz Campari
  • 1 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1 orange peel
  • Garnish with luxardo cherries

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Add LBC Bourbon, Campari, sweet vermouth, and ice into a mixing glass.
  • Stir, then strain into a coupe glass, no ice.
  • Garnish with an orange peel.

Sazerac Cocktail

The Sazerac is a stiff drink. Its skeleton is that of a classic whiskey cocktail—booze, bitters, sugar, and water—but its bulk is far more substantial. The Sazerac is a beast of many flavors, born in the New Orleans bar scene in the 19th Century and washed in absinthe. On top of rye whiskey and the green anise spirit, it calls for Angostura bitters, Peychaud’s bitters, and sugar, and is generally unrelenting in its herbal tones, like an Old Fashioned with something to prove. Speaking of, it takes two Old Fashioned glasses to make it properly.

If you want layers of alcohol to unpack as you sip, a Sazerac is for you. Bonus points if you’re a hardened newspaper reporter talking horse racing results in a smoke-filled pool hall, as that’s the kind of aura the Sazerac gives off. Doubly so if you can make if out of the chair after a round or two.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • ¾ oz lemon tarragon simple syrup
  • 4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
  • 2 ounce Ten x Ten Small Batch Rye Whiskey
  • 1 torched lemon peel to garnish
  • Absinthe to rinse the glass

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Rinse the glass with absinthe, and discard excess back to the bottle. Set the glass aside.
  • Add all other ingredients to a mixing glass filled with ice.
  • Stir to combine.
  • Strain into prepared glass and garnish with expressed torched lemon peel.

Mint Julep

The Mint Julep is a finicky drink if you want to make it right. Your silver beaker should be pre-chilled. Your ice should be cracked and drained of excess water. Your mint leaves should be the freshest, smallest, most tender that you can find. And god forbid you touch the cup too much with your bare hands or anywhere but the top or bottom, killing the frost.

But this cocktail is worth the special attention for the chance to bury you nose in aromatic mint and douse your tastebuds with sweet Kentucky bourbon. So whether you’re making one to sip during the Kentucky Derby horse race, as is tradition, or you want to cool off on a sticky summer day, here’s how to make a Mint Julep at home.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 oz LBC One Cask Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
  • 8 fresh mint leaves
  • ½ oz simple syrup
  • Fresh mint sprig for garnishing
  • Angostura bitters (optional)

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Add mint leaves to the bottom of a chilled rocks glass
  • Add New Riff Bourbon, simple syrup, and ice to glass.
  • Stir until slight haze begins to form above the liquid
  • Add bitters and mint sprig to garnish as needed.

Kentucky Mule

To be clear, we aren’t fans of anything Russian at Lawrenceburg Bourbon Company. That being said, the Moscow Mule is one of the most popular cocktails in the United States – but the mule itself is actually a drink category characterized by its use of ginger beer. So, there’s more than one way to skin a mule (rhetorically of course).

The Kentucky Mule proves that. America’s native spirit simply vanquishes Moscow in favor of Lawrenceburg for a more complex, and let’s face it, all American libation. The bourbon cuts through the ginger more aggressively than vodka, resulting in a more flavorful drink than the original.

For the best results, only use a high-quality, spicy ginger beer that will stand up to the whiskey. At the Goat Locker, we rely on Goslings Ginger Beer. A Kentucky Mule is also a great way to use any leftover mint julep mint on Derby day.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 oz LBC One Cask, Kentucky Straight Bourbon
  • ½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice
  • Ginger beer
  • Mint sprig to garnish

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Add LBC Bourbon and lime juice to chill mule mug.
  • Fill the mug with ice and ginger beer to the top.
  • Add a mint sprig to garnish.

Tips from the Goat Locker

We admit it, on occasion our mixology game misses the mark. Let our rookie mistakes save you from a bar faux pas.

Just stay no – We cannot stress this enough. Sub-par vermouth will kill a cocktail every single time. We use and recommend Antica Formula.
** Insider tip – ask the barkeep what vermouth the house mixes with. If it is a cheap brand, go with an Old Fashioned.

Stirred, not shaken – Unless the recipe specifically requires a shake (think Whiskey Sour), we like to err on the side of a stirred concoction.
** Insider tip – no-one like splinters of ice in an exquisite Boulevardier.

Mix it up – Switch out your bitters, make sweeteners from scratch, get creative with your garnish and please, stop using those cheap bright red cherries.
** Insider tip – stop using cheap bright red cherries

On the rocks – if you like your bourbon on ice, avoid crushed ice and small cubes. They melt fast and will water down your favorite libation.
** Insider tip – invest in a silicon ice cube tray. The 2” square, 6 cube trays work great.

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