Which is the BETTER bourbon cocktail?

The Stir Down with Steve the Bartender - Issue 020

I spent Wednesday at the distillery working on R&D for an upcoming gin featuring South East Asian flavours such as lemongrass, lime, ginger and chilli. Very excited to finalise the recipe and start incorporating the gin into cocktails - I think it will pair perfectly in a Gimlet, Gin Gin Mule and maybe even an Eastside.

Here's a random shot from my phone of the distillery just before guests arrived for their gin tasting flights.

We have started the redesign of the Shake & Strain cocktail app this week! I had a sneak peak of the design and it's looking super clean! I cannot wait to start rolling out new features for you all.

🎥 VIDEOS

I highly recommend doing side by side comparisons of cocktails such as my most recent video. It gives you an understanding of the impact of subtle changes. I compared the Left Hand (bourbon, Campari, sweet vermouth & chocolate bitters) and the Boulevardier (bourbon, Campari & sweet vermouth). The ratios vary slightly but the introduction of the chocolate bitters makes an almost entirely different drink - check it out here!

  • Sorry, it's dinner time... no extra videos to share today! 😋

🔥 TIP OF THE WEEK

Today's tip was stolen from long time supporter of the channel, Stephane Foisy!

If you regularly enjoy an old fashioned at home then you may want to consider purchasing orange oil and keeping it in an atomiser bottle. You can then quickly "express" orange oil over the top of your drink without the need for keeping fresh citrus on hand. Of course, there are plenty of other spirit-forward drinks that benefit from expressing citrus oils over the top too - just make sure you purchase food grade oils for your drinks.

You could even travel with them very easily and considering you only need a fine mist, a 30ml bottle will last you an extremely long time.

Enjoyed today's newsletter? Let me know in the comments!

Cheers,

Steve the Bartender

📚 Want a copy of my book? View stockists

Reply

or to participate.