The 5 Bottle Bar Challenge - Ep. 01 - Bourbon Whiskey

Are you searching for new cocktails but don't want to buy a ton of bottles in order to make them? In the five bottle bar series, I'll show you how to get the most used out of a limited number of bottles. Today's episode will be sure to keep the bourbon fans happy, but if you're not bourbon obsessed, don't stress because future episodes will highlight different spirits. The combination of the five bottles that I'm using today were chosen at random, and I'll be showcasing easy cocktails that you can recreate at home. In addition to the bourbon whiskey, I have La Cour 43, Campari, Sweet Vermouth, and Benedictine. Bourbon is a whiskey made in the US that contains 51% or more of corn within its mash bill. La Cour 43 is a Spanish liqueur that features notes of citrus, vanilla, and spice. Sweet Vermouth is a type of aromatized wine featuring notes of citrus, herbs, and fruit. Campari is an Italian bitter liqueur featuring bitter citrus and spice. And lastly, we have Benedictine liqueur, which exhibits notes of honey, herbs, and spice. Let's get stuck into the cocktails. Before I get started with today's tasty beverages, I want to give a big shout out and a massive thank you to today's video sponsor, Cider Mill Press. They publish an epic range of cocktail books, but I'll share a little bit more about that later. Let's start really simply with the Catechil, just a two-ingredient cocktail featuring La Cour 43 and espresso. So 1 1⁄2 ounces, 45 mil of La Cour 43, and 1 1⁄2 ounces, 45 mil of espresso. So it's just equal parts, so if you want to bump it up and make a larger-scale drink, go for it. I've chosen to serve this up in a coupe glass, but of course, you can serve this over ice in an old-fashioned glass, and you can also riff on it and add tequila, brandy, bourbon whiskey, what have you, but I'm just using the two-ingredient version and expressing orange oils over the top. Orange will pair nicely with La Cour 43, or if you don't have orange, you've got lemon, then the lemon will pair nicely with the coffee. Catechil, cheers. Such a simple drink, and it definitely gives the espresso martini a run for its money, especially if you add a little bit of cognac, bourbon. After seeing the list of ingredients, the Boulevardier was absolutely the first cocktail that sprung to mind, combination of bourbon whiskey, Campari, and sweet vermouth. So it's essentially the cousin of a Negroni, a bourbon-based Negroni. Now, you can serve this up or you can serve it over ice in an old-fashioned. I think most people serve it in an old-fashioned glass, so the difference with this is rather than an equal-parts recipe, most people tend to skew towards the bourbon, so we're doing one and a quarter ounce of bourbon whiskey. I'm using Buffalo Trace, so 37.5 mil, then one ounce of Campari, followed by one ounce of sweet vermouth, and only stirring for 15, 20 seconds, because we're serving it over ice. Boulevardier, boozy, bitter, my kind of cocktail. If you want, you can also riff on this and do a left hand, and a left hand is just a Boulevardier with the addition of chocolate bitters. So before I start on the next cocktail, I want to talk a little bit about today's video sponsor, Cider Milk Press. They do a series of cocktail books which is focused on major cities. So in front of me, I've got New York City cocktails, Mexico City, Paris, Italy, Sydney, and San Francisco cocktails. You can essentially use each of these books as a visitor's guide for that particular city and find out what bars you should visit, and it's also an excellent piece of reference material with each book containing over 100 cocktail recipes. Now those recipes are a good balance of classic cocktails that have shaped the drinks industry and modern cocktails from local bars. So I'll leave a link in the description below so you can find a book that's best suited for you. So I'm making quite a few stirred down cocktails today, given that we're doing bourbon cocktails, and this is one of them. This is the Kentucky Kernel. It's like a, well, it's an old fashioned riff using Benedictine as the sweetener. I've had this before, I've made it for myself, I just had no idea that it was called a Kentucky Kernel. We're gonna start off with your choice of bourbon whiskey. I'm using Elijah Craig Small Batch, which, measuring out two ounces, 60 mil, comes in at 47%, so you might wanna alter your ratios with your Benedictine depending on the proof and the sweetness of the bourbon that you're using. So half an ounce, 15 mil of Benedictine, and three dashes of Angostura Bitters. I'm tripling it because I'm using a Japanese dash bottle. Easy as that. Again, a bit more of a brief stir because I'm gonna be serving this over ice. Little twist of lemon to brighten it up. The Kentucky Kernel. My kind of drink. I think I said that on the last one, but I really love Benedictine. It's one of my favorite herbal liqueurs. You got that honey spice kind of note to it, and it pairs really nicely with Elijah Craig, or another bourbon that is slightly higher proof. This is at 47%, so if you use something 50%, 100 proof, that'll work really well too because you've got that sweetness from the liqueur, and we're using half an ounce. I have seen some recipes calling for three quarters of an ounce. I think that'd be too sweet, a little bit too much of the Benedictine, so two ounce, half, works perfect for me. Cheers. So just a couple more stirred cocktails before we get into those shaken drinks. This one is called the Macho Manhattan, and this was created by Jack Macho, a viewer of the Educated Barfly. Leandro featured on his channel. Technically, this is a rye whiskey cocktail, hence why I'm using old granddad bonded bourbon because it's high rye, and it's high proof as well. So this is 100 proof, 50%, and it's got 27% rye in its mash pit. Whilst it's not a rye, it's a higher rye bourbon. Now this does read like it's going to be a little bit sweet, but seeing Leandro's reaction on the channel, he absolutely loved the drink, and didn't come across as sweet as the specs read. So let's get straight into the drink, and measure out two ounces, 60 mil of rye slash bourbon whiskey. Hoping the high proof, high rye content will help cut back on that sweetness. Otherwise, I'll let you know, and you can adjust the specs yourself. So we have liqueur 43, three quarters of an ounce, 22.5 mil, and then half an ounce, 15 mil of sweet vermouth. And then we have another sweet component, a bar spoon of cherry juice from Luxardo Maraschino cherries. I didn't put a lot in there, to be honest. I'd already pre-garnished my glass just with a skewered Maraschino, the Macho Manhattan. The cherry on the nose is quite prominent. It's a sweeter version of Manhattan, but it's not overly sweet. I mean, I can completely understand some people will think this is quite sweet, but I think it still works, as long as you use that high rye, high proof bourbon, if you're using bourbon, or use a high proof rye. I'm glad I cut back on that Luxardo, the cherry juice. That cherry juice flavor comes through really, really strongly. Works nicely with the vanilla notes of the liqueur 43. In saying that, if you wanted to do a scant measurement, like literally just under a three quarter ounce of liqueur 43, and under half an ounce of sweet vermouth, just that tiny little bit, then I think it would work even better. But, as is, it's a good drink. This cocktail is a Bloom County. Comes from the Educated Barfly. I'm on theme here with thieving Leandro's drinks. This one wasn't created by a viewer. This was actually one of Leandro's originals, and I believe it was his very first original cocktail that he created. Ended up going on to host a drinks challenge where people could try and riff on this and try and improve upon it. So, it calls for a 100 proof bourbon. So I'm using, again, old granddad bonded. And the recipe is very similar to the drink that we just made, but the specs are slightly different. It'll be less sweet. We've got the addition of Peychaud's bitters. Doesn't have the cherry juice. There's a couple of subtle little differences that is gonna make this, I think, quite different to the first one. So, two ounces of bourbon. Then we have half an ounce. That's way more than half an ounce. Half an ounce, 15 mil of La Cor 43. Half an ounce, 15 mil of sweet vermouth. Be a lot drier, this drink, compared to the last one. Then we have a little bit of anise and spice and herbal notes from the Peychaud's bitters. He calls for four dashes. So I'm tripling it with this one. So, 12, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. That's a lot of bitters. This is not being served over ice. It's in a coop, chilled coop, so therefore we'll stir for a little bit longer. The Bloom County by Leandro, aka The Educated Buffler. Nice color from it, from the Peychaud's. Yeah, that's good. You get a lot of that anise and those floral cherry kind of aspects coming from the Peychaud's. It's a good drink. It's got that sweetness, but it's a lot drier than the last drink, for sure. The last one was kind of more focused around the cherry juice. This just showcases like whiskey, Peychaud's, and then you've got the sweetness and those vanilla notes coming through from the Liqueur 43. Any drink that Leandro makes, any originals, they're good. So if you're looking for something different, check out Leandro's original cocktails. Let's make a Liqueur 43 bourbon Manhattan. Jumping straight into it. Ooh, and measuring two ounces, 60 mil of your absolute favorite bourbon. I'm using a mix of small batch. I haven't used this much. 45.7%, a little bit higher proof than obviously Liqueur 43. Spanish liqueur, herbs, spices, vanilla, citrus notes to it. I've seen other recipes that call for considerably more Liqueur 43, but I'm using one ounce. I'm using one third of an ounce, 10 mil. I think that's sweet enough, with the amount of sugar that I think is in Liqueur 43. A dash, so triple it, one, two, three, of Angostura bitters. Now I saw this recipe on a few websites, on a few forums, I read it. Quite a few people sung its praises, so I'm sure it's great. Gonna flame the zest, so therefore I'm using the Bosca cheese slicer because it will retain more of the pith. It'll give the peel more structure. It makes it easier to flame. Just use a knife as well, of course. Cut off a coin. It'll work just as well. I want a fairly firm orange. This is a little bit soft. Don't use floppy oranges. All right, take two. Oh, this one got good vibes off this orange. Of course, if you prefer, you can light a splint instead of using matches. I just made sure I burnt it for a while to get rid of any of the off flavors, but some people were probably gonna argue that they were still around. Use a splint if you want, whatever. There we have a LaCour 43 bourbon Manhattan. Quite enjoy that. If you're a big fan of LaCour 43, you could bump it up slightly. I wouldn't go too much, but you do have a little bit of wiggle room there. Obviously, depending on bourbon they use, proof, rye, content, blah, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of jazz, but that is, it's a pleasant variation on the Manhattan. Okay, so we're past the halfway point and we're finally making a shaking cocktail. This one is called the Frisco Sour. So the Frisco is an old classic cocktail, which pretty sure just called for like rye whiskey and Benedictine, either stirred down or just served over ice. This is a sour version, as I suggested by the name. This particular spec with a slight tweak comes from Employees Only, where they've introduced lime juice in addition to the lemon. It was originally a rye whiskey cocktail, so therefore I'm using a high rye, higher proof bourbon, old granddad fondant. So measure out two ounces. I've just got enough, do I? Two ounces, 60 mil of bourbon whiskey, one ounce, 30 mil of Benedictine, three quarters of an ounce, 22.5 mil fresh lemon juice, and half an ounce, 15 mil of fresh lime juice. There's a fair bit of citrus juice in there, but it needs to balance out that full ounce of Benedictine. Garnish ready to go, and straight into a chilled cocktail glass. That's a little bit full. And garnish, skewered lemon lime and a maraschino cherry. Makes it look pretty fun, I think. As far as flavor goes, good flavor, quite sour. I think I'd wanna play around with this just a touch, potentially adding like a bar spoon of rich syrup to add texture and that tiny little bit more sweetness to balance out the citrus, because there's a lot of citrus in there. Keep in mind, we had three quarters of an ounce and half an ounce of the lime juice. So it's still good. I think it'll be tweaked, touch more sugar or less acid, but the addition of that sugar will add more texture too, because it feels quite thin at the moment. But as far as flavors go, I don't know what this is. As far as flavors go, good. Let's test it out with that bar spoon of rich syrup. Of course, I think this all comes down to your choice of whiskey. I think that's better. Better mouthfeel, more texture to it. The nose on this, that honeyed spice really comes through. When you do have a full ounce of Benedictine in there. Yeah, the lime component is really, in the background a little bit more, whereas before it was quite sharp. The frisky is sour. This drink originates from Portland, Oregon and it's called the Raining on 110th Street. This is another one that was originally a rye whiskey drink, so therefore I'm using Old Forrester. I'm pretty sure I called for Rittenhouse rye. Yes, I did. Rittenhouse, which is 50%, 100 proof, so therefore I'm using 100 proof bourbon to match the ABV. And then I'm also using a bourbon whiskey that has a little bit higher rye content. Only sits at 18%, so it's still a fair way off being a rye whiskey, but I'm trying to, you know, get in the ballpark at least. I think the most important part was retaining the ABV of the whiskey because it's equal measures of vermouth and bourbon whiskey. So therefore, if you had a lower proof and you're adding so much of the sweet vermouth, it would come across as quite diluted and watery, in my opinion. So one and a half ounces, 45 mil of bourbon whiskey, high rye preferred, sitting at 100 proof, originally rye whiskey. And then we have one and a half ounces, 45 mil of sweet vermouth. Now, another small caviar. Technically, it is a vermouth blend or a vermouth punta mes blend. So we have sweet vermouth. If you want to recreate this recipe at home, just go straight ahead and do one and a half ounces, 45 mil. If you want to stay true to the original recipe, the blend is actually, let me just double check this. The blend is actually three parts of Coqui di Torino, which is a specific sweet vermouth, which has chocolate and orange kind of notes to it, and one part of punta mes. Punta mes standing for a poison half, poison half bitterness. This is actually more like a blend of a vermouth and an amaro, so it's more bitter, essentially. So what I'm going to do, as I said, if you're going to make this at home, one and a half ounces, 45 mil of sweet vermouth. That's the easy part. Or you can do one ounce of sweet vermouth, half an ounce of punta mes, if you have it. Original recipe will be up here, and the tweaked version, more details, will always be in the description. We have a bar spoon of liqueur 43, just in case you need clarifying those. Add that little touch of vanilla. We have five dashes of coffee tincture. You can make a coffee tincture at home by having a high-proof spirit and adding coffee into it, letting it macerate. But I have espresso pecan bitters by Patrician's Bitters, so I'm going to substitute. So you can use coffee bitters as a substitute if you like, or you can make your own tincture. One, two, three, four, five dashes. I think this is one of the cocktails that intrigued me the most, and it was probably because of the vanilla and espresso coffee combination. The Raining on 110th Street. Very much looking forward to this one. That does not disappoint whatsoever. I actually really like doing a split, or a 50-50 split when you're making martinis or Manhattan-style cocktails. I do like the influence of the vermouth, and if you're using a high ABV spirit, then it kind of balances out. Flavor combination of whiskey, herbaceous notes from the sweet vermouth, and vanilla and the coffee go really well together. I think the coffee is the hero in this one, thanks to Patrician's Espresso Pecan Bitters. This is, I'd have to say this is probably one of my favorites so far. So some of you might be wondering where the Campari cocktails have gone to. I did the Boulevardier, cocktail number two, and then this one is just literally a single-ingredient cocktail, the Campari Shakerado. Now, by just shaking this ingredient by itself, it just adds that dilution and the aeration, so it does change the Campari significantly. It makes it more palatable. I mean, you have to like Campari to drink a Campari Shakerado, but that dilution softens it, it mutes that bitterness as well. I have made this once before, I've added a little bit of saline solution too, so that's an option, but I'll keep it simple and just measure out two ounces, 60 mil of Campari. Probably could have gone a little bit more Campari. This is probably gonna fall a little bit short in the glass, but yeah, I'm okay with that. So Shakerado, it's in the name. I think the importance is a good hard shake, frost up your tin, give it lots of aeration and dilution. As suspected, two ounces was always gonna be too small for this glass. Usually you wanna, if you're making a shaking cocktail, to go into the Nick and Nora, like 90 mil, three ounces will fill out that glass perfectly, so. But I really like the visual look of this, like because you've got the aeration, you've got a little bit of a sort of gradient. It's not as like dark and crimson-like as the Campari itself. Campari Shakerado, single ingredient cocktail. Is it even a cocktail? It totally mutes the flavors. Like mute, it's a really strong, bold ingredient to work with, so mute isn't a bad thing. It just, it slows things down, makes it more palatable for people that don't like Campari. The shaking of the cocktail, the additional dilution, the chilling, kinda subdues the flavors, mutes them, makes them more palatable. Yeah, makes it more sippable, essentially. This is completely outside of the scope of the video because I'm using a different bottle, but I can confirm that an Averna Shakerado, it's a winner. Let's get back on track. Did you know the Pisco Punch actually originates from San Francisco? Make sure you follow the link in the description below and check out the range of city cocktail books by Cider Milk Press. So I've done a few riffs on a Manhattan, but we haven't actually done the Manhattan itself. So let's do it, okay. This is a Bourbon Manhattan. Traditionally, it's often it's made with a rye whiskey, but it's kinda interchangeable, and again, like I've mentioned in some of the other cocktails, I'm skewing towards a higher rye bourbon. Woodford has, I said it before, 18%, I think. I'll confirm in the description. Pretty sure I said 18% rye whiskey content, so it's not super high, but it's getting up there. So you're gonna measure out two ounces, 60 mil of your bourbon whiskey. And of course, you don't have to use a higher rye bourbon. You can just use whatever you want. I kinda realized like literally just a moment ago that I'm doing a five-bottle bar series, and I've changed my bourbon like six or five times or whatever it is, but the whole point is you can just use one bourbon across all these cocktails, and it will work. You might have to skew some, skew, you might have to adjust some ratios, but it'll work. One ounce, 30 mil of sweet vermouth, and two dashes of Angostura bitters. One, two, three, four, five, six. Japanese dash a bottle, so I triple it. Maraschino cherry garnish. Strain into a chilled stemmed cocktail glass. I wanna hear your opinion in the comments below. Do you prefer bourbon or rye in your Manhattan's? Cheers. It's a Manhattan. It's a sweeter style Manhattan, but it's got a really good balance from the sweeter bourbon, the herbal notes from the sweet vermouth, spices from the aromatic bitters. Manhattan, it's a staple.