Making Spirits Bright

Local restaurants and distillers share their favorite seasonal cocktail recipes

ALE-8 BOURBON HOLIDAY CIDER

Ingredients for 4 servings:

1½ cups apple cider

4 cinnamon sticks

2 apples, cut into bitesize pieces

1 orange, cut in half, then into thin wedges

6 ounces bourbon

12-ounce bottle Ale-8-One Cranberries (or pomegranate seeds, if preferred), for garnish

Directions:

Place cider in a pan on the stove with the cinnamon sticks, apples, and oranges and heat until hot. Add room temperature bourbon to a heat resistant pitcher. Add hot cider and mix. Pour cider mixture into four heatproof glasses, making sure each glass has fruit and one cinnamon stick. Top each glass with room temperature Ale-8-One. Garnish with cranberries.

BRANDY ALEXANDER

Courtesy of ALEX&NDER, located inside Copper & Kings Distillery

JEPTHA CREED BONFIRE

Courtesy of Jeptha Creed (jepthacreed.com)

Ingredients:

3/4 ounce Jeptha Creed Coffee Vodka

1 ounce Jeptha Creed Honey Vodka

1/2 ounce Hazelnut Liqueur

1 ounce Bourbon Cream

Directions: Add Jeptha Creed Coffee Vodka, Jeptha Creed Honey Vodka, hazelnut liqueur, and bourbon cream to shaker. Add ice and shake until cold. Rim rocks glass with graham cracker and honey. Strain shaker contents into rocks glass over ice. Garnish with marshmallows and light on fire with a torch. Blow out once marshmallows are roasted to your preference.

Brandy Alexander

Courtesy of ALEXANDER, located inside Copper & Kings Distillery (copperandkings.com/alexander)

Ingredients:

2 ounces Copper & Kings American Craft Brandy

.75 ounce. Crème de Cacao

.75 ounce Cream

Freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish

Directions: Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass and „ll with ice. Shake well with a Boston shaker and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

CARSON’S VODKA MARY

Courtesy of Carson’s Food & Drink (carsonsfoodanddrink.com)

Ingredients:

House Bloody Mary Rimmer: garlic seasoning salt, dried dill, smoked paprika, dried parsley, black pepper Bloody Mary Mix: Tomato Juice, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, minced horseradish, sugar, minced garlic cloves, celery salt, Frank’s Hot Sauce, Tabasco Sauce, black pepper, lime juice

Skewer: Single shrimp tossed in Old Bay Seasoning, two cubes of Pepper Jack cheese, one pepperoncini, and two Olives, one large celery stalk, one piece of candied bacon

Directions: Build the drink in your glass by filling a 16oz pint glass with ice and add 1.5 ounces of your favorite vodka. Top off the glass with 6-8oz of Bloody Mary Mix, enough to fill the glass to the top. To mix everything together, pour the contents of the pint glass into a clean metal shaker, set to the side and quickly run a fresh lime wedge around the rim of the glass and dip the top of your glass into the house-made rimmer. After you have a good amount of seasoning on the rim, pour the Bloody Mary back into the pint glass and add your garnish!

FAMILY RYE’S

Courtesy of Rabbit Hole Distillery (rabbitholedistillery.com)

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces Rabbit Hole Rye

.5 ounce Olorosso Sherry

1 Tsp. China China Liqueur

1 Tsp. Cranberry Jam

.5 ounce Pepita Seed Syrup (Pumpkin Seed) .

25 ounce Malic Acid

Directions: Shake and strain into a rocks glass with crushed ice. Garnish with dried cranberries.

EVERYTHING NICE

Courtesy of 8UP Elevated Drinkery & Kitchen (8uplouisville.com)

Ingredients:

1 ½ ounces Appleton Estate Signature Rum

1-ounce St. George Spice Pear Liqueur

¾ ounce Gonzalez Byass PX Sherry

Dash Angostura bitters

Dash orange bitters

Candied pear slice (brown sugar), for garnish

Directions: Combine and stir all ingredients with ice. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with pear slice.

OCTOBER OLD FASHIONED

Courtesy of Leslee Macpherson at Honeywood (honeywoodrestaurant.com)

Ingredients:

2 ounces Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon

2 ounces freshly pressed apple cider

6 dashes Woodford Reserve Sassafras & Sorghum Bitters

Dehydrated apple

Directions: Stir ingredients and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with dehydrated apple.

THREE MOTHERS

Courtesy of Pizza Lupo (pizzalupo.com)

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces of Old Forester 100 proof

1 ounce of Luxardo Amaro Abano

Heavy Cream

Directions: Add all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir, strain over rocks glass with ice. Top with a large splash of heavy cream.

THIS IS AMERICA

Courtesy of Rabbit Hole Distillery (rabbitholedistillery.com)

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces Rabbit Hole Bourbon

.5 ounce

7.5 year Apple Brandy

.75 ounce Sweet Corn Orgeat Syrup

.5 ounce Lemon Juice

Directions: Shake and double strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with corn shoots tied with corn husk.

WINTER WARMER

Courtesy of Decca (deccarestaurant.com)

Ingredients:

1 ounce Plantation Orginal Dark Rum

.75 ounce Plantation 3 Star Light Rum

.25 ounce Giffard Vanille de Madagascar

.25 ounce Simple Syrup

2 ounces Dark Horse Too Cream Stout

1 Egg White Simple Syrup (Cook 2 cups organic cane sugar and 1 cup water on the stove until sugar dissolves. Store in fridge.)

Directions: Combine all and dry shake. Shake with ice. Double strain into a large coupe glass. Garnish with ground espresso and cocoa nibs.