Bourbon
Bourbon is hard to find in Kentucky cookbooks—outside of bourbon balls, which seem to be in almost every cookbook. The reason that few cookbooks use bourbon, especially as a beverage, is that many of the counties in Kentucky are still dry. In older texts this translates into very few, if any, bourbon drinks recorded in the literature. Here are some drinks that were found during my research, adapted and updated as necessary.
Sometimes simple is best. That is the case with this first recipe for a bourbon-based drink, which was adapted from the original recipe featured in Cooking with Bourbon. The original recipe says that this drink is good for “30 minutes of sipping pleasure.”1 One of the benefits of this drink is that the water opens up the bourbon, allowing the consumer to enjoy the flavor of the whiskey.
“The Greatest Kentucky Drink”
an Old Fashioned glass or a tumbler
3 ice cubes
2 ounces Kentucky bourbon
4 ounces branch water
Place the ice cubes into the tumbler. Add the bourbon and branch water.
If you decide to add something to your bourbon, you might consider ginger ale. The ginger ale highball is a simple drink but clearly a popular part of Kentucky cuisine. However, Irvin S. Cobb wrote, “Personally, I dislike to see the taste of fine whiskey sullied by ginger ale.”2
Ginger Ale Highball
a highball glass
ice
2½ ounces bourbon
ginger ale
Fill the highball glass halfway with cracked ice. Add the bourbon. Fill the glass with ginger ale.
The South is known for mint juleps. The mint julep is part of Kentucky’s cuisine because of the famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby; however, these are the premade bottled juleps. While the julep may be associated with the horse race, in fact, “it is part and parcel of Kentucky lore and of Kentucky social life and hospitality,” dating from the time when Kentucky was part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The mint julep can be a strong drink that can be hard to resist; one author suggests the drinker say, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” in order to resist. Some have suggested that the whiskey is optional. Others have suggested that “the nectar of the Gods is tame beside” the mint julep and that “the bourbon and the mint are lovers.” The best juleps in the world are said to be made at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, which “requires that the mint not be crushed.” When making the mint julep, one should use only good Kentucky bourbon, which some people consider to be “liquid joy.” This recipe is adapted from Paducah’s own Irvin S. Cobb.3
Put 12 sprigs of fresh spearmint in a bowl, covered with powdered sugar and just enough water to dissolve the sugar, and crush the leaves with a wooden pestle. Place half the crushed mint and liquid in the bottom of a crackled glass tumbler, or in a sterling silver or pewter tankard. Fill the glass half full with finely crushed ice. Add the rest of the crushed mint and fill the remainder of glass with crushed ice. Pour in Four Roses or Paul Jones Whiskey until the glass is brimming. Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (preferably 2–3 hours—if you can wait that long). Decorate with sprigs of mint covered with powdered sugar when ready to serve.
The Moon Glow is an original drink found in Hospitality: Kentucky Style by Colonel Michael Edward Masters. Colonel Masters says this drink “finds favor with the gentlewomen.”4
Moon Glow
crushed ice
1½ ounces bourbon
2 ounces cranberry juice
2 ounces orange juice
2 teaspoons maraschino cherry juice
Pack a tall glass with crushed ice. Add the cranberry juice and the orange juice. Add the maraschino cherry juice. Then add the bourbon. Stir well with a bar spoon and garnish with 2 maraschino cherries and a straw.
The employees of the electric company in Louisville produced a cookbook, Somethin’s Cookin at LG&E, and included a bourbon punch.5
Bourbon Punch
15–20 servings
1 large can pink lemonade concentrate, undiluted 1
64-ounce bottle 7-Up or lemon-lime soda
1 jar maraschino cherries
1 cup (80-proof) bourbon
Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Freeze. Serve when slushy.
There are many bourbon slush recipes. This one comes from A. Lincoln Legacy Tasting Tour.6
Bourbon Slush
10–12 servings
2 cups strong tea
1 cup sugar
1 12-ounce can frozen lemonade (as is)
1 6-ounce can frozen orange juice
6 cups water
1½ cups bourbon
1 orange slice
1 maraschino cherry
1 sprig mint
Mix all of the liquid/frozen ingredients with the sugar. Freeze at least 12 hours. Remove from freezer 1 hour before serving. Scrape into a glass while still icy. Serve with straw and top with the orange slice, maraschino cherry, and sprig of mint.
Captain (Retired) Henry E. Bernstein of the US Navy invented the Bourbaree, which was featured in Tom Hoge’s The Bourbon Cookbook.7 With all due respect to Captain Bernstein, the honey disperses better in the drink if it is cut with warm water.
Bourbaree
2 cocktails
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce honey
½ ounce hot water
3 ounces bourbon
dash bitters
6 ice cubes
Cut the honey with the water, then mix all the ingredients in a blender. Pour into cocktail glasses.
The Kentucky Toddy is listed in The Mixicologist by Chris F. Lawlor, who in 1895 was the “chief bartender” at the Burnet House in Cincinnati and was formerly the chief bartender at the Grand Hotel. In addition to alcoholic drink recipes, the book has chapters on “Temperance Drinks,” the “Don’ts for Young Bartenders,” and “The Model Bartender.” The book also has a chapter on “Health and Alcohol,” which cites a study by the British Medical Association. The study’s results listed the lifespan of five classes of people based on a study of more than four thousand people.8
Class |
Lifespan |
Total abstainers |
51 years 1 month |
Moderate drinkers |
63 years ½ month |
Occasional drinkers |
59 years 2 months |
Habitual drinkers |
57 years 2 months |
Drunkards |
53 years ½ month |
The book contains two drinks that are similar, the Kentucky Toddy and the Old Fashioned Toddy.9
Old Fashioned Toddy
1 lump sugar
water
1 ice cube
1 jigger whiskey
dash nutmeg
a thick glass
Dissolve the sugar in a little water, the ice, and the whiskey; stir. Add the nutmeg, and serve in the same glass.
The Kentucky Toddy
Same as Old Fashioned Toddy, adding a little lemon peel to the drink before serving.
This next drink, Old Kentucky Toddy, comes from a book called Here’s How, which was published in 1941 in North Carolina. The wood cover on the book makes it unique. After the directions, in parentheses, the author suggests to readers that this drink will transport them back in time: “And prepare to dream of the good old days, ‘befo de war.’”10 Please note the addition of peach brandy and the substitution of an orange peel for the lemon peel in the Kentucky Toddy. Also, by 1941 the Kentucky Toddy was considered “old.”
Old Kentucky Toddy
silver goblet or large toddy glass
ice cubes
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
water
whiskey
1 teaspoon peach brandy
1 curl orange peel
Fill the glass ⅔ full of ice; add the sugar, dissolved in a small amount of water. Stir until the glass frosts; then almost fill with choice of whiskey. Add the peach brandy, and top with the orange peel.
When you have a crowd of people—perhaps with the barbecue on the grill—a good solution to satisfy everyone’s thirst while waiting for food would be a punch, something easy to fix for a large crew at once.
Excellent Bourbon Punch
16 10-ounce drinks
1 pint pineapple juice
1 quart orange juice
1 pint lemon juice
1 quart ginger ale
1 pint bourbon
2 cups sugar
1 pint water
Boil the water and sugar for at least 3 minutes. Allow the resulting simple syrup to cool. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Serve chilled.
Kentucky Kitchens, Volume II: I Hear You Calling Me includes a whiskey sour punch recipe by Sandy Adams.11
Whiskey Sour Punch
25 servings
1 small orange
3 6-ounce cans frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
3 cups orange juice, chilled
1 32-ounce bottle club soda, chilled
2 trays ice cubes
1 fifth bourbon
Cut the orange into thin slices, discarding the end pieces. Flute the edges of each slice with a small sharp knife; set aside. Combine the lemonade, orange juice, club soda, ice cubes, and bourbon in a punch bowl; mix well. Garnish with orange slices.
Members of Louisville’s Pendennis Club have long claimed the Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail as their own. The Pendennis Old Fashioned features muddled fruit, but other establishments choose not to muddle the fruit. Whiskey Ambassador Bernie Lubbers, who is also known as the “Whiskey Professor,” offers a traditional Pendennis-style Old Fashioned in his book Bourbon Whiskey Our Native Spirit: Sour Mash and Sweet Adventures.12
Old Fashioned
slice of orange cut in a half moon
cherry
splash water
2–3 dashes of bitters
small lump or cube sugar
ice cubes
soda water
shot bourbon
In a lowball glass, add a cherry, the orange slice, a sugar cube, the bitters, and a splash of water. Muddle the contents; then add a shot of bourbon and ice, and top off the glass with soda water.
One of Kentucky’s favorite fall sweet treats is the bourbon ball—the kind that you eat. Bartender Joy Perrine took that idea and converted it into a drink, the bourbonball, one of her many award-winning cocktails. Perrine and Susan Reigler featured this drink in their book The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book.13
1 part bourbon
1 part Tuaca
1 part dark crème de cacao
1 strawberry
Combine the ingredients; shake over ice, and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a strawberry on the rim.
The sidecar is a classic cocktail that combines three ingredients that balance one another for the perfectly flavored drink. While the original sidecar contains brandy, this one contains bourbon.
Bourbon Side Car
1½ ounce bourbon
¾ ounce Cointreau
¾ ounce lemon juice, fresh squeezed
sugar
Fill a Boston shaker with ice; add bourbon, Cointreau, and lemon juice. Close the shaker and shake until you hear the ice beginning to change. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a sugar rim. (Hint: You can set the sugar rim on the cocktail glass hours in advance, and then place in a freezer to chill the glass and set the sugar.)
Perhaps the most classic late-fall drink is eggnog. Sandy Talbott contributed this eggnog recipe to the Junior League of Louisville, which published CordonBluegrass: Blue Ribbon Recipes from Kentucky.14 Talbott advises, “You cannot overbeat the egg yolk, sugar, bourbon and rum. They must be beaten well to keep the eggnog from separating,” and, “This eggnog is better if made 2–4 days ahead.”
Bardstown Talbott Eggnog
15–20 servings
12 large eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar
1 quart good Kentucky bourbon whiskey
1 cup good light rum
1 quart coffee cream
1 quart whipping cream, whipped
freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish
Add the sugar to the unbeaten egg yolks and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and smooth. Add the bourbon, a little at a time, beating on high. Add the rum, and beat again thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites stiff and fold them into the mixture above. Add the coffee cream, and fold in the whipped cream. Refrigerate. Sprinkle the top with nutmeg before serving.
The Cooking Book by the Junior League of Louisville included this hot bourbon drink, which is perfect for late fall.15
Kentucky Mocha
2 heaping teaspoons Suisse Mocha or hot chocolate mix
2 tablespoons water, boiling
hot water
whipped cream
Dissolve the Suisse Mocha or hot chocolate mix in boiling water. Add the bourbon plus the hot water to fill the cup ¾ full. Stir and top with whipped cream.
In the fall, fog begins to cover the ground in the early morning. This next recipe is a good change for people who are tired of eggnog. The formula for this drink is listed in many Kentucky-area cookbooks including Festive Firsts, where it is called “Bourbon Fog”; Bellarmine Designers’ Show House Cookbook and The Cincinnati Cook Book, both of which list their recipes under the name “London Fog”; and an ice cream–heavy version in In the Kitchen with Ann called “coffee freeze.”16
Kentucky Fog
12 servings
1 quart Kentucky bourbon
1 quart strong coffee
1 quart vanilla ice cream
Combine the ingredients in a punch bowl and serve.
Hasenour’s Restaurant was a Louisville culinary landmark for more than sixty years. The Hot Tom and Jerry was its signature drink and is the only beverage recipe in Hasenour’s: The History of a Louisville Restaurant Tradition.17
1 egg, separated
1 cup superfine granulated sugar
pinch of baking soda
1 ounce rum
hot milk
1½ ounce Maker’s Mark whiskey
brandy
nutmeg
Beat the egg white until frothy. Beat the egg yolk thoroughly. Combine the white and the yolk. Add enough superfine sugar to stiffen the egg mixture. Add to this a pinch of baking soda and ½ ounce of the rum to preserve the batter. Add a little more sugar to stiffen (about ¼ cup).
To serve: In a warm mug dissolve 1 tablespoon of the batter in 3 tablespoons of hot milk. Add the whiskey; then fill the mug with hot milk to within ¼ inch of the top. Stir. Top with a touch of brandy, a sprinkle of nutmeg, and a little more rum.
Everyone in the South knows about eggnog, but boiled custard is something unique to Kentucky. Many recipes for boiled custard don’t include bourbon, but this one from Love Is … #2 in Your Collection of “Breckinridge Co. Homemakers” Recipes includes Kentucky’s finest spirit.18
Boiled Custard
8–10 servings
6 eggs
2 quarts milk
1 quart bourbon
1½ tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 pint heavy cream, whipped
Beat the eggs; add the sugar and milk. Cook in a saucepan over low heat until the mixture coats a spoon. Stir in the vanilla and butter. Strain, and then add to the whipped cream. Add the bourbon and serve.
Tailgating is a fall activity that happens before football games. In the late fall as the weather cools, having something warm to drink is important. In Kentucky TALEgating II: More Stories with Sauce, Kelli Oakley and Jayna Oakley offer up an apple cider spiked with bourbon.19
Bourbon-Spiked Apple Cider
20 servings
two 64-ounce bottles apple cider
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
4 whole cloves
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground all-spice
4 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1½ cups bourbon
Mix all the ingredients except the bourbon in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the mixture is reduced by one quarter (or about 12 cups), about 30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cinnamon and cloves. Add the bourbon. Ladle into cups.