Bristow Sling (Original Recipe)

 

This is what happens when you grab a flavored whiskey and just wing it with things you have on hand. I'm talking about the Sling and how the sling is one of the oldest cocktails around, yet we often overlook it as an easy formula that will please bargoers. 

So this whiskey sling is using naturally-flavored MurLarkey lemon whiskey, which is just dried lemons soaked in the barrel with their Justice white whiskey. The rest of this sling's ingredients are pretty standard, with Cherry Heering, lime juice and soda being the main ones. I changed things up by adding my own Mandarine Napoleon liqueur to add more richness from the cognac spirit and the spices and orange notes that it provides. 

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey lemon whiskey 
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
  
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
• 1/2 oz. Mandarine Napoleon (homemade) liqueur
• club soda
  
• luxardo cherry and lime slice garnish

Combine all ingredients except soda and garnishes in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Add garnishes to the top of the glass.

Bristow Iced Tea (Original Recipe)

 

Yes, the infamous Long Island Iced tea is known for being a chameleon: it looks like iced tea, but there's no tea in it. Instead, it is just about every cheap booze that can fit on a speed rail. Here, the concept is the same but the taste is craft. There's real tea and lemon flavor infused into MurLarkey three tea and lemon whiskies. The experience is a bit surprising. It tastes great--strong but refreshing. 

And of course you can try to play it off as if this is an iced tea, but it's more likely that you'll be drinking from your home bar, so what's the point. If people saw how much MurLarkey I have on by bar, there'd be no need for me to pretend. 

• 1 oz. MurLarkey lemon whiskey
• 1 oz. MurLarkey three tea whiskey
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
  
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup (dark brown used for tea color)
• cold filtered water
  
• lemon slice and mint sprig for garnish

Combine juice, spirits and sugar in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with cold water and stir. Garnish with lemon and mint.

Derby #2

I'm trying to feature more local Virginia spirits in my classic cocktail posts. MurLarkey whiskey is often one of my most frequent go-to ingredients, but keep in mind that is because they have a huge product line. Even though this recipe calls for blended whiskey, for instance, I realized that rye and MurLarkey lemon whiskey would be a helpful addition. 

The rye I'm speaking of is not from Virginia, but it is one of the best in the country: Glacier Distilling's North Fork rye! This is a rich rye--a little goes a long way. It has such an oak presence that one could mistake it for bourbon on first sip. That is until the spice notes kick in. 

So with a citrus-forward cocktail like all Derby variations, I decided to mix in the lemon whiskey. This increased the citrus richness to include lemon peel infused whiskey to orange flavored liqueur and fresh lime juice.

• 1 oz. blended whiskey (1/2 oz. each of MurLarkey lemon and North Fork rye used)
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (cocchi Dopo Tetatro used)
• 1/2 oz. curacao (triple sec used)
• mint sprig for garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with the mint sprig.

Park Lane

Every so often, a sloe gin cocktail really hits the spot. I recommend a hot day where a Manhattan served up doesn't sound appealing. That is because sloe gin has that berry flavor that I associate with Slushies. It bends the flavor of a whiskey drink to something snappy and sweet and somehow familiar.

You can use any whiskey to do the Park Lane, however I recommend using an understated whiskey. Your good scotch or bourbon is wasted here, while citrus flavors are complimentary. So Canadian or Irish whiskeys are best, but for a change, try a citrus flavored whiskey like MurLarkey's lemon whiskey. 

• 1 1/2 oz. blended whiskey (MurLarkey lemon used)
• 1/2 oz. sloe gin (Mr. Boston used)
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar syrup or to taste

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

Grape And Grain (Original Recipe for MurLarkey Distillery)

The idea behind the Grape and Grain is encapsulated in the name: a refreshing Spritz using grain and grape juice spirits like MurLarkey lemon whiskey and E&J brandy. With a touch of lemon juice and sugar, the drink gets additional roundness and balance from cream sherry, another grape spirit. The garnishes are designed to exemplify the two main spirits represented in the cocktail.

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey lemon whiskey 
• 1 oz. brandy (E&J VSOP used)
• 1/2 oz. cream sherry (Lustau Capataz Andres used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• red grapes
• lemon peel curl
• sparkling water

Combine sugar, juice and spirits in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Collins glass. Add a few red grapes to the glass and top with soda. Stir gently and garnish with more grapes and a long curl of lemon peel.

Pomelo Delta

It's more than a triangle wedge of citrus to garnish a triangular-shaped glass. This cocktail speaks of exotic lands and lush mouths of rivers where forbidden fruit grows--river deltas of the world's equatorial regions.

Pomelo juice is less bitter than grapefruit, far sweeter than lemon, and as honeyed as a mandarin orange but with a different flavor profile than any other member of the rue family. The peel is exceptionally pithy and useful for flavoring the Forbidden Fruit honey-citrus spirit with a cognac base.

In keeping with all the citrus theme, I chose MurLarkey lemon whiskey, which is a lemon zest infused white whiskey. It is one of MurLarkey's subtler infusions, easy to hide in a fruity cocktail that doesn't require whiskey flavors but benefits from the whiff of lemon zest. You could do this drink equally well with vodka or gin, but you might have to use lemon juice and adjust for the accompanying bitterness.

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey lemon whiskey
• 1 1/2 oz. pomelo juice
• 1 oz. Forbidden Fruit (See recipe here)
• 1 dash RAFT hibiscus lavender syrup
• pomelo sliced in a delta shape. 

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

Gumdrop Martini

This was a complicated drink with difficult-to-handle garnishes. Why? Gumdrops have a mind of their own, and I didn't want them just sitting at the bottom of the glass, even though that is a perfectly good serving suggestion. The gumdrops do look beautiful on the edge of that sugar rim.

The 90's are responsible for funny ideas like the Gumdrop Martini, back when vodka drinks emulated candy and almost encouraged children to drink. (JollyBartender does not advocate for underage drinking.) It was the age of vodka and people's tastes were simpler then. Alcohol had to taste like candy to entice new drinkers. I know some people who have not evolved beyond this drinking trend. For this reason a 90's vintage bar manual will be full of vodka drinks with these kinds of flavors.

For this cocktail I made my own lemon flavored rum rather than use the Bacardi Limon that was common back in the 90's. This is a simple infusion of the zest of one lemon and four ounces of light rum. A ready-made alternative available in Virginia can be found in MurLarkey's lemon whiskey, which is made the same way but with a whiskey base. If you can get that, you'll also find that Divine Clarity is a suitable vodka at a decent price.

• 2 oz. lemon flavored rum (homemade infusion used)
• 1 oz. vodka (Divine Clarity used)
• 1/2 oz. Southern Comfort (Bird Dog peach whiskey used)
• 1/2 tsp. dry vermouth
• lemon slice
• gumdrops
• sugar

Rim a cocktail glass with sugar. Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into the glass and garnish with a lemon slice and gumdrops.