A couple of months ago, when I tried making a Manhattan at home, I didn’t really like it. For me, it was far too strong. But it’s a classic. And bourbon is one of those basic liquors that every bar has.
So I thought, there must be some way to make bourbon palatable. I don’t like straight vodka shots, but I love greyhounds. There has to be a way to do something similar to bourbon, right? How difficult could it be to make two ounces of bourbon palatable?
Well, as it turns out, it’s quite difficult.
Ruby Manhattan
2 oz bourbon
1.5 oz ruby port
dash Angoustra bitters
orange twist
maraschino cherry
It seems that people don’t usually mix juice with bourbon. So I went with this ruby port recipe. I thought the sweetness of the port would make this drink more palatable than the original, but… it was still really strong. I couldn’t really even taste the port. Perhaps some more port would have helped. But that was definitely a fail.
Bourbon Milk Punch
2 oz bourbon
3 oz milk
1 teaspoon simple syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Since port wasn’t doing it, I thought milk would be better for mellowing out the taste of bourbon. I sampled some of this bourbon milk punch after I made it as described, but it was still very alcoholic, so I added 2 more ounces of milk and an extra teaspoon of simple syrup. It still wasn’t enough. It tasted mostly like bourbon to me.
Bourbon Chocolate Milk Punch
2 oz bourbon
1 oz creme de cacao
5 oz milk
Next, I tried creme de cacao instead of simple syrup, for a more chocolatey flavor. It still tasted mostly like bourbon. I’m guessing that I need a lot more sugar to really make this drink pleasant.
In the end, I failed. Maybe two ounces was just too ambitious. I’ll try going with a single ounce next time, and see if using a whole bunch of milk and sugar would make a slightly alcoholic milky drink.
Or I could just give up and mix bourbon with Coke. That’s easy.