The Gingerbread Whiskey Sour

Yes, I understand the gingerbread cookie is strictly a holiday treat, but who's to say that specific flavor profile can't be enjoyed year round in a delicious homemade cocktail?  Raise your hand if you didn't know you could make a whiskey sour without pouring a neon-yellow, super sweet and extremely sour concoction out of a bottle labeled, 'Whiskey Sour Mix'.  If you raised your hand, c'mon... it was more of a rhetorical request (is that a thing?).  In reality, the basic Whiskey Sour can be made with three simple ingredients: whiskey, simple syrup and lemon juice.  If you were to get fancy, you'd add a lemon twist, maraschino cherry and the infamous [and not dangerous when done correctly] egg white foam.   You may have seen my previous post on The Smoked Maple Bacon Manhattan made with Tippleman's Not Quite Simple Syrups.  As I mentioned in that article, both Bittermilk and Tippleman's are developed by the same husband and wife team behind Charleston's The Gin Joint, Joe and MariElena Raya (Read my Q&A with the Rayas).  With the release of these two lines of craft cocktail syrups, the Rayas have helped turn everyday cocktail enthusiasts into amateur mixologists.   I was interested in collaborating with the Rayas because their products are made and bottled locally in Charleston and they're made with all-natural, organic and local ingredients.  Each of these ingredients combines a bittering agent, a sweetener and an acid to achieve a well-balanced cocktail when you add your favorite spirit.  Trust me when I say, they literally have craft cocktails down to a science.  

In this post, I'll be showing you how to make a variation of a classic Whiskey Sour using Bittermilk no. 7 Gingerbread Old Fashioned Mix (c/o The Gin Joint).  This particular variant of Bittermilk takes the place of simple syrup in this Whiskey Sour.  The deep flavors of gingerbread spices and citrus notes play well with our lemon and whiskey, making for a delightful and delicious rendition of this classic cocktail.

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Yield: 1 cocktail

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 2 oz Bourbon or Rye whiskey (I'm using High West Distillery's "Double Rye!")
• 2 Dashes of Angostura Aromatic Bitters
• .75 oz Lemon Juice + slices for garnish
• .75 oz Bittermilk no. 7 Gingerbread Old Fashioned Mix (if not available, substitute simple syrup for a classic Whiskey Sour)
• 1 Luxardo Maraschino cherries + syrup
• Ice cubes for shaking and serving

Other Tools

• Cocktail Shaker
• Barspoon
• Jigger
• Paring knife
• Rocks glass
• Pick or cocktail straw

Instructions

In a shaker add the whites from 1 egg and the lemon juice, DO NOT add ice (yet).  Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.  This is called a 'dry shake' - it will aerate the egg whites until they are light and frothy which will produce a creamy texture for your cocktail.

Open up your shaker and add your ice.

Now add the 2 dashes of bitters, whiskey of choice and finally the Bittermilk no. 7 Gingerbread Old Fashioned Mix. 

Shake vigorously for another 20 seconds.

Place a large ice-cube in a rocks glass.

Pour the cocktail over the ice cube, notice the frothiness produced by the egg whites.

Place your barspoon, face down, on the inside of the rocks glass, pour some of the syrup from the Luxardo cherries on to the back of the spoon, it should settle at the bottom.

For garnish, place a cherry and lemon wedge on a cocktail pick and place it in your whiskey sour.

Savor and enjoy.

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