Whirling Tiger (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

There are a number of martial arts titled drinks involving whiskey in the Death & Co. book. This one unusually uses fuji apple juice--which might be the only Japanese-ish thing this drink has going for it. Overall, the Whirling Tiger is much more of a fall cocktail that tastes like a ginger spiced cold cider with the happy addition of bourbon. 

Again, I used my ginger brandy to flavor the simple syrup for this recipe so I didn't have to have a lengthy infusion. 

• 2 oz. Buffalo Trace bourbon
• 1 oz. fuji apple juice (R. W. Knudsen apple juice used)
• 3/4 oz. apple juice
• 1/2 oz. ginger syrup (simple and ginger brandy used)
• 1 fuji apple slice

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass fulled with ice. Garnish with the apple slice. 

Warehouse C (Death & Co. Recipe)

There is no end to the great drinks you can make with bourbon. This one comes as no surprise, but it seems a little unusual to find orgeat, strawberry an cinnamon all in the same cocktail. To me, the flavors in the Warehouse C signal the end of summer berries and the beginning of fall spice cocktails.

Death & Co. recommends batching your own cinnamon infused syrup for drinks like this, but I never do. I rely on a dash of MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey, which is basically cinnamon infused whiskey. It is the real deal, and so adding some to your simple syrup effectively makes it cinnamon syrup. I did the same with my homemade ginger liqueur and simple syrup to make the ginger syrup.

• 1 strawberry
• 1 1/2 oz. Buffalo Trace bourbon (Ancient Age by Buffalo Trace used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/4 oz. orgeat (Fee Brothers used)
• 1/4 oz. cinnamon syrup (simple and a dash of MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey used)
• 1/4 oz. ginger syrup (simple and a dash of ginger liqueur used)
• 1 dash aromatic bitters (Hella used)

Muddle the strawberry in a shaker tin. Add ice and the remaining ingredients. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe glass.

 

Deadpan Fix (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

I'm used to a Fix being in a rocks glass, but anything goes in cocktail naming, and I'm not sure there is anything fixed about the meaning of the word Fix. 

This is a fun way to get the whiskey to go down, which is the real point of a Fix--make it as easy to drink as possible and it will fix you up. Some fun ingredients in this, including Campari and ginger syrup. The Grand Marnier adds sweetness and citrus in a cocktail that already has a lot of both. My substitution is homemade Mandarine Napoleon. This just adds more mandarin orange and spice notes that Grand Marnier doesn't have. 

• 1 1/2 oz. Catoctin Creek 92-proof rye
• 1/4 oz. Campari
• 1/4 oz. Grand Marnier (homemade Mandarine Napoleon used)
• 3/4 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. ginger syrup (homemade ginger brandy and simple syrup used)
• 1 orange twist garnish

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the orange twist. 

Monongahela Mule (Death & Co. Recipe)

What a beauriful name for a Mule cocktail made with rye (especially Catoctin Creek). It refers to the Monongahela national forest in the Allegheny Mountains. This mule gets its red color from muddled raspberries and its ginger flavor from ginger syrup (ginger liqueur in my modification.) Mint--which is a great addition to any Mule drink--really stands out as a gamechanger here. 

• 4 raspberries
• 6 mint leaves
• 2 oz. rye (Catoctin Creek 92-proof used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. ginger syrup (simple syrup with ginger liqueur used)
• 1 mint sprig garnish

Muddle mint leaves and raspberries in the shaker tin before adding the remaining ingredients and ice. Shake and double strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice and garnish with a mint sprig.

 

Overhead Smash (Death & Co. Recipe)

This is actually a Smash cocktail, much like those made with fruit and base spirits back in the early days of cocktails. The difference is that this Smash (a name that denotes its method of preparation) is very much of the Tiki era of cocktails with cucumber, ginger and Angostura bitters. It is a riff on the Suffering Bastard of nearly identical ingredients. The difference here, however, is the addition of strawberry and the fact that that the Bastard's ginger beer preparation is now replaced with ginger syrup--effectively making it a ginger soda cocktail. 

One other notable change in this Overhead Smash from its forebears is that it has a potent aromatized wines, quina vermouth and Bonal, giving the entire cocktail a bitter base that goes well with the vegetable notes of cucumber smashed into the mix. 

The drinking experience is still the same as the Suffering Bastard, but knowing that is prepared as a Smash and has Bonal Gentaine-Quina just helps you appreciate the craft of it.

•  1/2 strawberry
• 2 cucumber wheels
• 1 1/2 oz. dry gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
  
• 1/2 oz. Bonal
• 1/2 oz. Carpano Antica (Cocchi Dopo Teatro used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. orgeat (homemade used)
• 1/4 oz. ginger syrup (homemade ginger brandy and simple used)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)
• club soda
• 1 cucumber ribon, 1 mint sprig and 1 or 2 drops of Angostura as garnishes. 

Muddle strawberry and cucumber wheels in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients except soda and shake with only a few ice cubes, then strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and garnish with the cucumber ribbon and mint sprig. Then dash Angostura on the mint. 

 

Dhalgren (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Believe it or not, a port drink can be light an refreshing if done with juice bitters. Even with the richness of ginger syrup, this fun drink feels like a day at the docks, if not the beach. 

Just as I use cinnamon whiskey to flavor my simple syrup, I've trotted out my ginger brandy for this recipe's sweetener. While my ginger infusion is more intense than Domain De Canton, it is just a backbone to this mostly fruity cocktai made with port and tequila.

• 2 oz. blanco tequila (El Jimador used)
• 1 oz. tawny port (Porto Morgado ruby used)
  
•  1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. ginger syrup (simple plus 1/2 oz. ginger brandy used)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 1 lime wheel garnish

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish with the lime wheel. 

Park Life Swizzle (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

When I saw that there was an Old Tom Swizzle recipe in the Death & Co. book, I had to try it. I didn't have Ransom, which is what is specified, and rather than using Vitae's mild tasting Old Tom, I went in another direction.

I know that Ransom is very malty and dank, for lack of a better word. So my choice was homemade Schiedam gin with malt whiskey infused with juniper and citrus. It was dank! This is a spicier lime juice swizzle that tastes more tropical than the Robert Johnson Swizzle. The spice comes from Angostura bitters on top, but also the ginger syrup (which I made by adding ginger brandy to my syrup). It smelled incredible. It tasted even better. The problem with swizzles, though, is that they are a pain to make and they don't last long.

Here's how it's done:

• 1 oz.  Ransom Old Tom (homemade Schiedam used)
• 1 oz. amontillado sherry
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. ginger syrup
• 6 dashes Angostura bitters
• mint sprig garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake and pour into a chilled pilsner glass. Add more crushed ice and use a bois lele to stir and chill. Add more ice and continue stirring until the glass freezes over and the contents of the glass reach the top. Dash bitters on the ice and garnish with mint.