Tag Archives: whiskey cocktails

Drink of the Week: CC 100% Rye Whiskey Sour

Posted on November 14, 2014 | 2 comments

“Sours month” continues here where I try one of my all-time favourites, the whiskey sour, but using a new 100% rye whiskey from Canadian Club. This robust and rye-forward (read: spicy) Canadian Club Chairman’s Select is made from single grain rye. This is a departure from traditional whiskies, which typically have mash bills weighted toward wheat or corn. Chairman’s Select is distilled in Calgary at Alberta Distillers, aged in bourbon barrels and bottled in Walkerville, Ontario. It’s nice on its own but I prefer whiskey in a cocktail, such as the CC 100% Rye Whiskey Sour. It’s delightful, but suffers from the same problem as all sours: you will drink it too quickly and want another one right away.

Doesn't the piano evoke and old-school bar? (It's in my kitchen.)

Doesn’t the piano evoke and old-school bar? (It’s in my kitchen.)

Canadian Club 100% Rye Whiskey Sour

  • 1-1/2 oz Canadian Club Chairman’s Select 100% Rye
  • 1/4 egg white
  • 1 oz fresh lemon juice
  • 1 oz elderflower and ginger syrup (I used 1/2 oz St-Germain and 1/2 oz ginger syrup)
  • 1 dash black walnut bitters

Method: Shake all ingredients vigorously without ice for 10 seconds. Add cracked (or cubed) ice and re-shake for another 10 seconds minimum. Serve straight up with no ice into a chilled cocktail glass (champagne or cocktail coupe) with fine strainer (e.g. tea strainer).

— Recipe courtesy Canadian Club

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Drink of the Week: Blisskey

Posted on June 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

If the name of this week’s drink sounds made up, that’s because it is. I didn’t know what else to call my muddled blueberry-mint-lime juice-whiskey cocktail. I was going for a take on a mint julep, but the end result more closely approximates a mojito. At any rate, it’s a little glass of whiskey-blueberry bliss = Blisskey.

Fresh mint, muddles blueberries and a tot of whiskey will be key to your bliss this weekend.

Fresh mint, muddled blueberries and a tot of whiskey will be key to your bliss this weekend.

When creating a cocktail I first see what fresh ingredients I have on hand (blueberries, mint, limes) and then I think about what spirit might taste good with them. I settled on the maple whiskey because it’s slightly sweet and I thought the maple would play well with blueberries and mint. If I’d had lemons on hand I would have opted for them instead, but limes also work (hence the mojito-like taste…even my husband guessed that rum was the base spirit. Maybe I should up the whiskey to 2 oz?). The blueberries don’t add very much in terms of flavour, but they sure make the drink a pretty pink-purple hue.

It’s just the kind of drink you want in-hand when you’ve been trapped indoors all week because of the rain, the children are chasing the dog around the house. Blisskey, take me away!

Whiskey mojito meets mint julep in this pretty cocktail.

Whiskey mojito meets mint julep in this pretty cocktail.

Blisskey

  • 1-1/2 oz Gibson’s Finest maple whiskey
  • 1/2 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz honey simple syrup
  • 8-10 fresh blueberries
  • 6-8  mint leaves, plus mint sprig garnish
  • Ice

Gently muddle the blueberries, mint and whiskey together in the base of a cocktail shaker. Add the lime juice and simple syrup and some ice. Shake, and then strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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