The Whiskey Thankful
A simple whiskey cocktail with fall flavors.
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients: Rye or bourbon, lemon juice, cinnamon simple, bitters, apple garnish
Gear: Cocktail glass, shaker, strainer, ice
Pre-enjoyment preparations: Make cinnamon simple syrup, squeeze lemons
Flavor Profile: Like autumn in a glass.
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces bourbon (or rye)
1.5 ounces of good apple cider
0.5 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
0.5 ounces cinnamon simple syrup (instructions below)
Angostura bitters
Apple as garnish
Introducing The Whiskey Thankful
Following TRB’s Foolproof Thanksgiving Wine Guide, we are serving up a handful of festive and easy-to-make cocktails, starting with the Whiskey Thankful.
This recipe is a riff on a simple drink we discovered last month as the first crisp fall breezes blew into town. The original recipe called for whiskey, apple cider, maple syrup, and bitters. The resulting cocktail was good but somewhat flat. It was all sweetness and spice, yet empty in the middle.
The drink was out of balance.
To fix this, we added fresh lemon juice to increase the acidity. The lemon juice filled out the center, bringing additional body and firmness to the resulting cocktail. Without the additional citric acid, the drink is too soft, like a flat cola.
Finally, we swapped out the store-bought maple syrup for homemade cinnamon simple syrup. The cinnamon brings baking spice notes to the party, which complements the flavors of apple cider and bourbon.
Let’s Make Cinnamon Simple Syrup
Making simple syrup couldn’t be easier. Simple is right there in the name. Make it ahead of time so that it’s readily available for use. Try some in your coffee, over ice cream, or with pancakes. Or find other interesting places to drizzle it. Just remember: you have company coming.
To make the syrup, add one cup each of granulated sugar and water to a small saucepan and heat on medium until it simmers and the sugar has dissolved.
Reduce to low, add 2-3 sticks of cinnamon, and continue to simmer for 30-60 minutes. Simmer is the keyword here—we’re aiming for low and slow. Too much heat, and you’ll end up making cinnamon caramels, and that’s a discussion for another newsletter.
When the syrup cools, bottle it and store it in the fridge. Restaurant-style squeeze bottles are perfect for storing and dispensing simple syrups.
What kind of cinnamon should you use? You can get standard cinnamon sticks at the grocery store or get the good stuff online like we did. We enjoyed the depth of flavor from these Ceylon cinnamon sticks, and it’s hard to beat the price.
(Note: in a pinch, you can use ground cinnamon, though you should stir it well—it doesn’t dissolve easily. Gritty syrup ain’t good syrup, and you don’t want that floating around the bottom of your cocktail. Use 2-3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to replace 2-3 cinnamon sticks. )
Recipe and Step-by-Step Instructions
Prerequisites:
Squeeze those lemons. Fresh lemon juice is so much better than the bitter nastiness we find in pre-bottled lemon juice. Avoid “bitter cocktail face” and take a few minutes to squeeze your own. A good-sized lemon should produce about an ounce of lemon juice, which should be enough for two cocktails. Squeeze ahead of time and store your fresh juice in the refrigerator.
Make the cinnamon simple syrup. You’ve probably already made your cinnamon simple ahead of time, so grab it from the ‘fridge.
Initial Set-up:
Grab two small plates or saucers.
Pour a small amount of your cinnamon simple syrup onto one plate.
Sprinkle granulated sugar onto the second plate.
To rim your cocktail glasses, dip the rim of each glass into the plate with the cinnamon simple syrup and then into the sugar. We like to rim half of the glass, but rim the entire edge if you like!
Make the cocktail:
(Amounts below are per-cocktail)
1.5 ounces bourbon (or rye if you prefer)
1.5 ounces apple cider (fresh is best)
0.5 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
0.5 ounces cinnamon simple syrup
Angostura bitters
Apple as garnish
After your glasses are prepped, add all ingredients to a Boston Shaker. We generally use two shakes of bitters per cocktail.
Add ice.
Assemble both halves of the shaker and shake briskly for 15 seconds.
Strain into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass.
Garnish with an apple slice (or get fancy with an apple fan as pictured.)
Enjoy!
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We do something similar but with Apple Brandy / Apple Jack instead of whiskey. A bit sharper bite. I’ll have to try yours soon.
Have you tried toasting the cinnamon before simmering? A few minutes in a hot, dry skillet seems to add to the flavor. We also add cloves occasionally.