Cascade Golfer 19th Hole

Spring is in the Air

Fore Sure Late night inspiration leads to smooth, smokey libation at The Calcutta Grill

BY BART POTTER • CG STAFF WRITER

Botanicals and a Rose Bulb Make This Flourish

The newest cocktail in The Calcutta Grill at The Golf Club at Newcastle answers the question we’ve all been asking. Or not.

Ben Davison, Newcastle’s director of food and beverage, asked it of himself during an impromptu mixology session at his home.

The question: Is there such a thing as a gin cocktail mixed with Scotch, Scotch-based liqueur, sweet vermouth, and bitters? The answer, which he came up with toward the end of the night: “For sure!”

Davison says he does some of his best work at night. That particular evening, he mixed and matched, tasted and tested, and in the end, crafted a new drink. He calls it “Fore Sure” and it is good.

“It’s a fun cocktail,” Davison says. “It does not drink heavy.”

Gin, but not just any gin. Hendrick’s works because it’s more botanical-forward than juniper-forward, according to Davison.

Scotch adds a smokey texture. Glenfiddich 12-year single malt is a fantastic match. The one-of-a kind Drambuie, an Isle of Skye liqueur, lends a warm honey-herbal sweetness.

Hendrick’s, Glenfiddich and Drambuie (all distributed worldwide by William Grant and Sons) are produced in Scotland, the birthplace of golf, appropriate for a busy golf course bar like The Calcutta Grill.

Davison added “Fore Sure” to his cocktail menu in late March.

The new craft cocktail is the answer to a late-night question that somebody had to ask: Fore Sure.

At Home Bar Mixology

Fore Sure

By Ben Davison • The Calcutta Grill • The Golf Club at Newcastle

INGREDIENTS

• 1.25 oz. Hendrick’s Gin

• .25 oz. Glenfiddich 12

• .25 oz. Drambuie

• .25 oz. sweet vermouth

• 3 dashes orange bitters

• 1 dried rose bulb

INSTRUCTIONS

Measure everything but the rose bulb into a mixing glass with ice. Take the rose bulb, remove a few outer petals, and crush the rest into the glass. Stir the drink quickly (at least 30 times), or until the rose is slightly aromatic. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the reserved rose petals.

Hendrick’s Rocks Seattle Golf Show Fore Sure

There’s no doubt that Ryan Reeder of William Grant and Sons is focused on Seattle golfers and their love of great cocktails.

His vision and campaign in Cascade Golfer and the Seattle Golf Show, both now in their second year of what he’s mapped out, is showcasing some the finest mixologists in Puget Sound with the amazing spirits in his portfolio.

This was accentuated with the 2024 version of the Hendrick’s Gin Experience at the Seattle Golf Show March 9-10 at the Seattle Convention Center. Reeder brought in his steampunk Negroni machine again, trained the bar staff at the SCC, and they wowed the thousands of golfers in attendance with watching the cocktail made before their very eyes.

“I saw the impact this liquid lounge had on the attendees last year and just knew it would be a huge hit again,” said Dick Stephens, owner of the Golf Show.

“We have partnered with Ryan and William Grant on the Taste America productions we produce on behalf of the James Beard Foundation each year at The Four Seasons Seattle, and the talent he selects with the perfect libation pairings he crafts always helps elevate the mood and offering to our event guests. We wanted that same energy at the Golf Show. The attendees just loved it.”