There are thousands of cocktails using bourbon. These are a few of my favorites.
Use a good whisky for the drinks, but there is no need to spend a lot. For most of these cocktails I don’t like the wheated bourbons, such as Maker’s Mark. There are very good bourbons in the $30/bottle range. Experiment and see what you like.
Manhattan
I like to make this with both bourbon and rye. I use 2 kinds of bitters.
- 2 parts bourbon or rye
- 1 part sweet vermouth (recommend Carpano Antica)
- 1 dash bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters (optional)
- 2 cocktail cherries (recommend
- Fill the serving glass with ice and water. Let this sit while you make the drink. This will chill the glass.
- Add bourbon, vermouth and bitters to a cocktail shaker. Add ice.
- Stir drink in shaker for about 30 seconds until frosty cold.
- Empty serving glass and strain drink into glass. Garnish with cherries.
Bourbon Smash
- 1/2 large lemon cut into chunks
- 3/4 oz simple syrup
- 8 mint leave, plus 1 sprig
- 2 oz bourbon
- 1 cocktail cherry
- Put lemon, mint leaves and simple syrup into shaker.
- Muddle just enough to extract the juice from the lemon pieces.
- Add the bourbon and stir well.
- Strain into a rocks glass 1/2 full of ice. Garnish with the mint spring and cherry.