Every now and again you find new inspiration from old classics. In the case of this cocktail–the Distiller’s Punch–my inspiration came from an evening of mixology with Tammy. She began with her riff on the classic Sidecar, but with bourbon instead of the traditional Cognac (I prefer Remi Martin VSOP in the original). The Cointreau and fresh squeezed lemon juice really completed this cocktail. Not to be outdone, and following the theme of fruit-forward bourbon cocktails, I decided to make the classic Man o’ War. This Kentucky Derby inspired drink (named after a racehorse) is similar to the bourbon sidecar, with the addition of another bourbon-friendly ingredient–sweet vermouth.

With the previous two cocktail fresh in our minds, we began discussing the lack of bourbon and whiskey in tropical cocktails or tiki drinks (not the same thing ;)). It didn’t take long to find an interesting Mai-Tai inspired cocktail from the Halekulani Hotel in Hawaii. The Halekulani Cocktail is filled with tropical fruit juices and bourbon… yes… bourbon! After reviewing several variations of this cocktail–all of which used different proportions of orange, pineapple and lemon juices–I decided to riff. The Distiller’s Punch contains lime juice instead of orange juice because it seemed to work better with the Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon 😉

While this cocktail could be given a Hawaiian name, such as ‘Aniani Lani’ (translation: glass of heaven), I decided to pay homage to the bourbon lovers and call it Distiller’s Punch.

Distiller’s Punch

2 oz. Bourbon (I used Four Roses Small Batch Select)

1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

1/2 oz. Pineapple Juice

1/4 oz. Grenadine (made from scratch)

1/4 oz. Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

2 dashes Tiki Bitters (Bittermen’s ‘Elemakule’ Tiki Bitters)

Add all ingredients to a shaker, add ice and shake for 30 seconds. Serve over an over-sized ice cube (or ice ball). Garnish and enjoy!

Cheers 😉