This is another one of those instances where I assumed the recipe was already on my website and lo and behold… it wasn’t. So here we go, although many of you have already found this one in other locations (it can also be found on page 40 of The Bar Book, for example) I think it’s still important to have it here on my site.
I came up with this one a VERY long time ago, for an event sponsored by Highland Park scotch whisky. It’s a rare one for me, in that it contains a Tiki-level number of ingredients. But I feel strongly that each one is important, and each contributes to bringing out the unique characteristics of the two main ingredients: scotch whisky and fresh apple cider.
I love apple cider cocktails. I would imagine the first one I ever heard of was the Stone Fence, which I learned about in David Wondrich’s cocktail history masterpiece, Imibibe! many years ago. And so this is a sort of homage to that very old style of drink, again updated with a bunch of other ingredients. [I find a Stone Fence to be pretty delicious but fairly boring. I remember when Imbibe! came out there were a ton of “craft cocktail” bars with a Stone Fence on their menu and honestly I found it to be a little lazy]
Scotch whisky comes to the party with a ton of apple notes already, so I use it here to bolster the apple cider. The Averna, allspice, bitters, and brown sugar syrup are all there to make that fresh-pressed apple cider sing even more. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have a ton of apple trees and therefore apple cider producers, so this time of year is all about the celebration of those flavors.
Anyway, it’s on our menu now at Pacific Standard, hence the blog post (since we’re getting a ton of inquiries for the recipe). We serve this one on pebble ice with a garnish of fanned apple slices, but crushed ice works just as well, and plain old ice cubes are great, too. Big thanks to my business partner Benjamin Amberg for the beautiful photography!
Flannel Shirt Print Me
- 13⁄4 oz/50 ml scotch whisky
- 11⁄2 oz/45 ml fresh apple cider
- 1⁄2 oz/15 ml Averna amaro
- 1⁄4 oz/7.5 ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp/5 ml 2:1 brown sugar syrup
- 1⁄2 tsp/2.5 ml allspice dram
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Combine the Scotch, apple cider, Averna amaro, lemon juice, Demerara syrup, allspice dram, and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Shake with ice cubes and strain over fresh ice into the glass of your choice. Garnish with an orange twist or apple slice.
Recipe printed courtesy of jeffreymorgenthaler.com
