Why Not
Recipe:
- 55ml bourbon (something nutty, dark, with some body, WT Rare Breed, Knob Creek, etc.)
- 15ml Cointreau
- 22.5ml fresh lemon juice
- 15ml dark, robust maple syrup
Shake everything on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a sage leave and lemon wheel.
Whisky Sours are honestly not really my thing, I think the spirit is often not ideal in the template and most recipes. Why I like this one so much better than many other Whiskey Sours? Don't know but subjectively it is in another league than most others of its kind. Whisky Sour meets Sidecar, the latter for me also an underestimated template.
Brilliant nose for a Sour, fresh sage (which fits perfectly as the garnish, don’t ignore it), dried orange peel, maple syrup, walnuts and hazelnuts lightly candied and toasted as well. Fresh orange and sage at the start of the tasting, nice mix of nuts, citrus zest and tree resin, nutmeg, cinnamon, chestnut, leather and toasted oak. Very long finish.
Simply fantastic.
I can only strongly recommend not to take sweet bourbons, with Knob Creek it is absolutely fantastic and its nutty flavors en masse, I can also well imagine WT 101, WT Rare Breed, Maker's 46, maybe also a JD Single Barrel, etc. Or a Bib & Tucker, oh yes...
Source: “Cocktail Codex” by Day, Fauchald, Kaplan, p. 182, drink originally by Devon Tarby 2017
