(Barrelhound) Kona Cooler

This cocktail is one of my go-to drinks at parties where people are asking for a tropical drink with whiskey. It is fun to watch their faces when I tell them there's scotch in the drink while they sip it for the first time. It's overwhelmingly exotic and not at all stuffy like a single malt drink. Barrelhound really does appeal to non-whiskey drinkers, especially when used in this way.

• 1 1/2 oz. Barrelhound whiskey
• 1 oz. creme de cacao
• 6 oz. lime juice
• maraschino cherry

Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Garnish with the cherry.

Affinity #2

This is the after-dinner Affinity to set across from the before-dinner Affinity #1. I think I like this one just as much if not more than its vermouth laden brother. This one has a good helping of sherry and port, which makes it sweeter. I let these dessert wines stand out by using Barrelhound blended scotch. There's no peat flavor here, just sweet wines with a scotch backbone.

• 1 oz. scotch
• 1 oz. dry sherry
• 1 oz. port
• several dashes Angostura bitters
• maraschino cherry 
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except cherry and lemon peel in a mixing glass with ice. Stir well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the maraschino cherry and lemon twist.

Stirling Sour

A Margarita with a highland name, if not in proportions. It turns out that most scotch and tequila are interchangeable in drinks involving lime juice. Choose a heavier flavored scotch and you will notice smoke and peat sticking out. Make it with an unpeated scotch and you will have a mild sour that will appease bourbon and tequila fans alike.

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. simple syrup
• several dashes of triple sec

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice.

Beadlestone

I can appreciate such a vermouth heavy cocktail since I returned from Europe, where a Martini is just vermouth on ice. It was savory to enjoy dry vermouth in such a large quantity with just hints of oak and peat coming through to sweeten it up in the finish. Vermouth takes some getting used to, but once you start enjoying it like wine, than you think of vermouth cocktails as wine cocktails and taste them for their grape flavors.

• 2 oz. scotch (Barrelhound used)
• 1 1/2 oz. dry vermouth

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Banchory Cocktail

This drink is named after a medium-size town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It seems to be a bit of a commercial center that has grown over the centuries. The scotches in this region are known for their sherry cask flavoring and especially smooth texture.

I also felt that this drink could use the addition of a singed orange zest to go with the tsp. of orange juice. (Follow the instructions for the previous drink.) It's really just a matter of having a lit flame and giving the zest a pinch directly above the flame's highest point.

• 1 oz. scotch
• 1 oz. medium sherry
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar syrup

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Argyll Cocktail

There's a bunch of scotch drinks I've been wanting to make from John J. Poister's New American Bartenders Guide. He has really developed a rich section on scotch cocktails that deserves a second or third exploration.

The name of Argyll Cocktail reminds me of the patterned socks, and the drink made with Barrelhound Scotch lives up to this reputation as a warming amalgam that is also soft on the tongue.

• 1 oz. scotch (Barrelhound pictured)
• 1 oz. calvados (Captain Applejack used)
• 1/2 oz. dry gin
• 1 tsp. heather honey or sugar syrup (lavender honey used)
• lemon twist

I had problems with the recipe instructions as written so I recommend these steps in order to get the honey to dissolve into the drink.

1. Add honey and scotch to a room-temperature highball or Old Fashioned glass. 
2. Stir the honey mixture until the honey dissolves completely into the scotch. 
3. Add ice and other liquors and stir gently until cooled.
4. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Highland Fling #2

I've often considered this recipe to be a disaster waiting to happen. The idea of a sweet scotch drink with a Spanish olive sounds disgusting and I was steeling myself for what was to come when I ordered it. Luckily for me Eric Christiansen, the bartender at Irish Whiskey Public House on 19th Street, didn't bat an eye at this unusual order. He's obviously seen stranger things than olives in whiskey.

It also helped that Barrelhound is the most versatile scotch I've ever worked with. If you consider how it can melt away into the background like vodka--and I contest that it could be used in a Bloody Mary--then you can think of this drink as a lot like a Martinez. It's something of a vermouth cocktail and not really a sweet scotch drink. Then you can understand how this drink turned out well.

Barrelhound scotch is extremely forgiving for mixers, and that alone might make it a hit in the cocktail scene and with new home bartenders.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 3-5 dashes orange bitters
• Spanish Olive

Combine all ingredients except olive in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the olive.

Scotch Cobbler

This is a pretty rich drink as the name suggests, but it wasn't bad considering that it was a hot day and the drink was well chilled. It really helps to use Cointreau or white curacao to get the effect of light orange flavors that tame the liquor. The bartender at Bar Dupont suggested a fired orange peel to go with the orange liqueur in the drink.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. honey
• 1/2 oz. white curacao or Cointreau
• mint sprig or singed orange peel (shown)

Combine all ingredients except mint and orange twist in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into an Old Fashioned glass with large ice cubes. Garnish with mint sprig, or squeeze orange peel over an open flame to singe the fruit oils and drop it in the glass.

Scotch Sangaree

I had this one made with Barrelhound scotch at Bar Dupont in Dupont Circle. It is possible to add too much nutmeg, so don't go overboard. Otherwise this is the perfect light cocktail for summer scotch drinking.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1 tsp. honey
• sparkling water
• lemon twist 
• nutmeg

Combine scotch and honey in an old fashioned glass and stir until mixed. Add ice and sparkling water and stir gently. Garnish with lemon twist and nutmeg.

Highland Cooler

Shana Steele, bartender and events planner at Rebellion on 18th Street came up with this cocktail to turn her guests on to Barrelhound scotch. It turns out that it is the same recipe for a Highland Cooler, although she chose to serve it up in a coupe glass and use ginger beer. The original is served in a highball glass. But the drink was done in spirit and probably better after having been stirred and strained.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 2 oz. club soda
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• ginger ale
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except ginger ale and lemon twist in a highball glass full of ice. Stir and top with ginger ale and lemon twist.

Barrelhound Scotch and Soda

I can't believe that as long as I have been blogging, I never posted a Scotch and Soda. Often it is my go to drink when bar hopping because everyone can make it. The trick is to use an especially light flavored blend like Chivas. Barrelhound is a blend by Chivas Brothers that is very light, containing the most airy of Speyside scotches. It makes a great Scotch and Soda for your bar hopping excursions in D.C.

• 2 oz. blended scotch (Barrelhound pictured)
• club soda
• lemon twist

Pour scotch over ice in a highball or Collins glass. Top with soda and stir gently. Garnish with twist.

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Scotch Orange Fix

This was an unbeatable combination for a summer drink. Barrelhound scotch did its best not to overwhelm the citrus flavors of orange and lemon. The result was similar to a vodka or brandy sour, since it didn't quite taste like bourbon or whiskey. When you do notice the scotch, it is oak and vanilla, not even spice or heat of most whiskey--just smooth.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1/4 oz. triple sec
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp fine ground sugar
• orange twist

Combine all ingredients except twist in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Garnish with orange twist.
Combine all 

Scotch Sour

Barrelhound makes an especially mellow sour that, when using fresh lemon juice, is a perfect summer drink. The unpeated Barrelhound scotch is nice and light, contributing oak and vanilla flavors and a little maltiness that is very understated. This lets the fresh juice do all the work. Here's how to make it:

• 2 oz. scotch (Barrelhound pictured)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup or 1 tsp. fine ground sugar
• Orange slice

Combine all ingredients except orange slice in a shaker with ice. Shake well and pour into a lowball or sour glass. Garnish with the orange slice.

Barton Special

 Sometimes a hard liquor drink on the rocks is just you need after a hard day. This one is very good quality, and one of its qualities is being less than the sum of its parts. Let me explain. There's apple jack, but there's also a good helping of gin and scotch. It should be a mouthful of flavors, but somehow it is mellow and subdued, and this works to its favor. Here's how to make it.

• 2 oz. apple jack (Laird's pictured)
• 1 oz. gin
• 1 oz. scotch (Barrelhound pictured)
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except twist in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Garnish with the twist.

The Dog's Bollocks

 

The Dog's Bollocks is a proprietary drink of the new Barrelhound Scotch Whisky, a member of the Chivas Brothers and Pernod Ricard family. The drink itself is a wonderful combination of Galliano and whisky that is similar to the Wally Harbanger I tried earlier, even more similar since Barrelhound is an unpeated scotch with bourbon flavors. More about that to come... Here's how to make the drink.

• 2 oz. Barrelhound scotch
• 1 sugar cube
• 1/4 oz. Galliano
• 2 dashes bitters

Muddle sugar, butters and Galliano in an Old Fashioned glass until the sugar dissolves. Add whisky and ice and stir.

Barrelhound is so new that it is only available in D.C. and Brooklyn, N.Y. It is a "new breed" of scotch, a "mutt" of Speyside flavors from the Chivas Brothers best barrels of malt and grain whiskys (including corn), but none of them are peated. The whiskys are married and aged in American white oak, which gives it soft vanilla notes like bourbon. Bourbon drinkers will really appreciate this scotch/ bourbon crossover and cocktail drinkers will find that its versatility means you can mix it into almost any drink. Think Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, but don't shy away from Rickeys, Swizzles and Tonics. Expect me to make a few more drinks using Barrelhound for future postings.

Barrelhound Sour

Barton Special

Scotch Sangaree

Scotch Smash 

Scotch Orange Fix

Barrelhound and Soda

Highland Fling

Scotch Cobbler

Highland Cooler