Instructions:
Add the Rye, Laphroaig, Strega, Amaro Averna, Aromatic and Citrus Bitters to a chilled cocktail glass. Add ice and stir for a few seconds. Strain it into a chilled rocks glass over a large ice cube (if possible). Garnish with the orange twist and bacon slice.
Notes:
Smoke, leather, cloves, bacon grease and anise on the nose. Whiskey forward with accents of caramel, leather, pipe tobacco, anise, maple, saffron and herbs. It then dries out with a crisp smoke laced bitter finish. Like a camping trip in your mouth. Oh and btw, the bacon flavor diffuses into the drink as you sip. On that note, don’t forget to gnaw on the bacon as you savor this one …you’re welcome.
History:
I created Gentleman & Scholar as part of a guest post I did for my friends over at Broquet. These guys sell some pretty cool gifts for guys, like a bouquet for bros, only instead of flowers these are packed with knives, bacon, smoking/grilling stuff, shave kits and jerky.
The post was to show folks a few drinks they could make with one of their cocktail kits, called The Gentleman & Scholar, a kit for making Old Fashioned’s and the like. I wanted to make something that fit in with the goodies they have over at Broquet, so I took my ques while browsing around. I left wanting to make something with whiskey that was smokey, with notes of caramel and somehow work bacon into the mix. Maybe outdoorsy? I dunno. I wanted it to be rugged and manly, yet be a bit refined and complex, as its name suggests.
I started out with pure Peated Scotch, but it was a bit too gruff. Rinsing the glass wasn’t quite enough, but the mix of rye and Laphroaig ended up hitting the sweet spot. I love Amaro Averna and it definitely hit the caramel notes I was looking for. At this point I had something that tasted like a smokey Palermo/Black Manhattan. I’ve already been down that road so went back to the cabinet for another peek.
I recently had an interesting twist on a Manhattan with Strega and Barolo Chinato and wondered how Strega would fair in this one. …obviously, since it’s in the recipe, it worked out pretty well. Kidding aside, the herbal and saffron laced sweetness also helped round out the core of this one. Plus Strega has come up in a few manly places, such as a Hemingway novel as well as The Godfather.
The bacon adds a nice accent that actually diffuses flavor into the drink as you sip it, especially if you throw it in while it’s still a bit greasy. It’s really true, bacon does make everything better. That being said, if you’re not a fan of bacon, it’s still damn tasty without it (…blasphemy, I know).
No drink of this sort is complete without bitters. The kit comes with Hella Bitters excellent Aromatic and Citrus bitters, which were the perfect way to finish this one off.
Gentleman & Scholar turned out to be a really tasty drink and one I’ll definitely be spending more time with and sharing with friends. Speaking of friends, they often challenge me to make strange combinations of flavors for drinks, such as “I want one that tastes like Jurassic Park, meets The Shining, meets The Hangover” (I’m dead serious). Let’s just say it was definitely an enjoyable (and much easier) challenge to create a “Broquet-esqe” drink.
Go make yourself a GENTLEMAN AND SCHOLAR and then head over to BROQUET and see some of the cool stuff that inspired this drink (don’t forget to check out my guest post as well). As a small way of saying thanks, my bros over at Broquet and I have also worked out a discount for you guys. Just use the code “StraightUp10” to get 10% off your order throughout the store. That way, if you see something you like you’ll save a few bucks on us.
- The Black Manhattan Cocktail (cold-glass.com)
- Smoke Signal (drinkstraightup.com)
- Why do some people prefer bitter drinks? (bbc.co.uk)
- …and Antartica (drinkstraightup.com)
- Smoke: Playing with Laphroaig (tartinestotikis.wordpress.com)
- The Smoked Cocktail (drinkstraightup.com)
- Bottecchia (drinkstraightup.com)
- Apple and Snake (drinkstraightup.com)
- The Long Kiss Goodnight (drinkstraightup.com)
