McKittrick Old Fashioned
If I were stranded at a desert island cocktail bar that served just one drink of my choosing, I’d make it an old fashioned. I suppose that would be a little like using your last genie-granted wish to ask for more wishes, since an old fashioned can take numerous guises. The basic ingredients are always booze, sugar and bitters; the cardinal sin is making it too sweet. Beyond that, there’s a lot of leeway, so my hypothetical castaway bar wouldn’t lack for variety.
The latest version of this drink to capture my attention is the McKittrick old fashioned. It uses bourbon as a base, and mellows the bite with a sweet, full-bodied sherry that’s heady with raisin and molasses flavor. A dash of mole bitters finishes it off with aromas of cinnamon and chocolate. I encountered the McKittrick old fashioned for the first time last weekend, at Milk & Honey’s new location on 23rd Street, and couldn’t wait to try creating it at home. It’s simple to make but complex in character; just the thing for a novice home cocktailer to have in her recipe arsenal.
To make this you’ll need quality bourbon, since it comprises 2/3 of the drink. You’ll also need to buy the right kind of sherry, a spirit that ranges from pale and dry to dark and syrupy. Pedro Ximénez, a type of grape used for the blackest, sweetest sherries is called for; a bottle of Lustau “San Emilio” from Astor Wines set me back $29. I already had some Bitterman’s mole bitters lurking in the back of my cabinet, but they’ll add about $20 to the overall pricetag. Still, $50 won’t get you very far in a fancy cocktail bar, while these ingredients should last well into summer.
Recipe adapted from TheLanternsKeep.com, another classy bar to check out if you spend a lot of time in the Rockefeller Center area of Midtown.
2 oz bourbon
¾ oz sherry
2 dashes of bitters
(I’m forever perplexed by how much bitters is in a “dash.” Some bottles pour a few orderly drops at the shake of a wrist, while others unleash an uncountable maelstrom. The mole bitters came with a dropper and I used 10 drops).
Stir in a rocks glass with a large ice cube and enjoy!