Buffalo Soldier (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Yep. That's my label on the bottle of pecan-infused bourbon (not honey-infused this time). I had fun with this Death & Co. recipe that only uses three ingredients: bourbon, pecans and demerara sugar syrup. Doing the infusion is easy. Just soak a cup of pecans in a cup of bourbon for more than a week and it is ready to strain through cheesecloth and use in the drink. 

I used Ancient Age bourbon because it is made at the Buffalo Trace distillery and is where this drink takes its name from. This is very much a cocktail in the dessert spectrum with a ton of vanilla-and-pecan-coated in-rich-sugar sort of experience, not unlike having one of the bourbon and pecan bon-bons they sell at Buffalo Trace. As I drank it down, however, there was increasing bitterness and a dry nutty note from the pecans that I appreciated much more than the sweetness of the sugar. 

Play around with the sugar portion as well as the proportions of pecans to bourbon, to find your favorite Buffalo Soldier. I adjusted the sugar down a little because I don't like my drinks too sweet, but everyone will have their preferred recipe with something this simple. 

• 2 oz. pecan-infused Buffalo Trace bourbon
• 1/4 oz. demerara sugar syrup

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a double rocks glass over a large single piece of ice.