Whisky Cocktails

@YakLord I am a big fan of the Wiser's 23 year old CS. One of my favourite Canadian whiskies. I do not regret having spares of those (especially having found a bunch for 1/3 off the original price...).

@YakLord how did the Kavi Old Fashioned turn out? If it worked, would you mind posting the recipe?

@Pudge72 It was really just Kavi with some Angostura and Orange Bitters, as the Kavi itself has added sugar. Not too complicated, but not great. Not sure it's something I'll repeat. I might add Coffee Bitters to an Old Fashioned, for just a hint of the flavour.

Vintage York, from the LCBO's Winter 2022 Food & Drink Magazine. The recipe calls for Canadian Club Chronicles 45 year-old, but I used J.P. Wiser's 23 year-old Cask Strength.

• 1.5oz Premium Canadian Whisky

• 1/4oz Amaro (I used 5ml Amaro Averna and 5ml homemade Nocino)

• two dashes of premium Aromatic Bitters (I used a dash each of Bittered Sling Kensington Aromatic Bitters and Kinsip Black Walnut Bitters)

• add ice and stir until well chilled

• strain into a rocks glass over ice

• garnish with cocktail cherries

Churchill... 1.5oz blended Scotch, 0.5oz Cointreau, 0.5oz sweet vermouth, 0.5oz lime juice. Not sure I'll make this again...

The Coco Geisha, recipe from Difford's Guide:

• 1.5oz Japanese Single Malt (Hatozaki Small Batch Pure Malt)

• 0.75oz sake (Yuki Hotaru)

• 0.75oz coconut water

• 0.25oz simple syrup

• dash yuzu bitters

Sake Manhattan:

• 1 & 3/4oz sake

• 3/4oz bourbon

• 3/4oz sweet vermouth

• 1/3oz maraschino liqueur

• dash of Angostura Bitters and two dashes of Peychaud's Bitters.

The Storm King, with the thematically appropriate Johnnie Walker Game of Thrones 'A Song of Ice'. Original recipe is here: liquor.com/storm-king-cocktail-recipe-6751860.

Manhattan Goes to Tokyo...

• 1.5oz whisky... the recipe calls for bourbon, but I used Shinobu Pure Malt 10 year-old Mizunara Cask Finished.

• 1oz sake

• 0.5oz ginger liqueur

• a few drops of ginger bitters

The Mizunara Finished Blended Malt really changed the intended flavour profile, and not in a good way. I'll have to try this again with bourbon and see how it goes.

Revisiting the Manhattan Goes to Tokyo (see immediately above in this discussion), but using bourbon, as per the recipe, and it is a much different, and much better, experience...

@YakLord - I propose changing your handle from @YakLord to @CocktailLord.

@bwmccoy It's all about experimenting and broadening my horizons.

For tomorrow night's D&D Cocktail I'll be making an updated version of this: the official Team Canada Cocktail from the 1986 FIFA World Cup...a friend found an old promotional cocktail booklet...

Really unsure what about this screams "Canada" so much that it was the official Team Canada Cocktail for the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Using a good grenadine syrup just makes it less artificially red looking. It's not a bad cocktail, just not sure of its Canadian-ness...

@YakLord I’m pretty sure Wiser’s 23 wasn’t around in 1986…

But now I suddenly want some W23…

@Nozinan True, but Windsor Supreme Canadian isn't available, and I was trying to make it better by using quality ingredients...to quote the friend who sent me the recipe: "So [it's] decent but unexciting and not terribly unique? Sounds Canadian to me (sorry branding efforts)."

@YakLord "Unexciting and not terribly unique"...I'm pretty sure a music critic who listened to the last original rock group I was in said something similar about us.

Another version of The Storm King, this time using the Shackleton Blended Malt...

@TracerBullet Finally got around to attempting another Paper Plane. Last time around I made it using Basil Hayden's and Averna Amaro, and it really didn't work.

While I don't have any Amaro Nonino, I do have Cocchi Vermouth Amaro and a better bourbon. This one was miles better than the last one...

Aber Falls Black Tea Old Fashioned: - 2oz Aber Falls Welsh Single Malt - 3/4oz smoked black tea syrup - 2 dashes coffee bitters - 1 dash orange bitters

Gloom Lifter, an Irish Whiskey Sour with some brandy and grenadine to add an interesting sweetness to balance the tartness...

Revolver, using Gooderham & Worts Little Trinity instead of bourbon. If you replaced the whisky with a blended Scotch and the Orange Bitters with Chocolate or Mole Bitters, it'd be a Ballroom...

North Sea Oil...the Caol Ila is just to add a hint of smoke, as the base spirit is Akvavit. Interesting, but not sure I'd make it again.

Sherry seasoning my 1L Cask...plan to do barrel aged whisky cocktails with it... First up, after the seasoning, is a Blended Scotch based variation on the Northern Standard.

New York Sour made with Pennsylvania Straight Rye and a New York Red Blend...

Last of my Barrel Aged Blended Scotch Whisky based Northern Standard, made with Johnnie Walker Game of Thrones 'A Song of Ice'...

Ballroom, using the last of Compass Box Asyla: 2oz Asyla, 3/4oz Kahlua, 1/4oz chilled water, 2 dashes Chocolate or Mole Bitters.

Black Sabbath:

• 2oz peated whisky (Caol Ila 12yr)

• 1oz Averna Amaro Siciliano

• 3/4 tsp Absinthe (Dillon's)

• 2 dashes Orange Bitters

It's functionally a Black Manhattan (Black Rob Roy?) made with Peated Scotch and a splash of absinthe.

@YakLord ow is the Absynth? I've had a bottle for years (well, sometime since they donated sanitizer to our team in 2020) but have never opened it.

I've never tried Absynth but would one day like to.

@Nozinan Not sure I know enough about absinthe to comment one way or the other. I've only ever used it in cocktails so far, but it definitely is an improvement on the raki that I was using before, when cocktails called for an anise flavoured spirit. Not that the raki is bad, but the absinthe adds layers of complexity and some serious weight, ABV-wise.