The inspiration for today's cocktail comes from the classic ballad, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). It was written in 1944 by Bob Wells and Mel Torme during a blistering hot summer. Torme recalls that Bob Wells started the lyrics by trying to think of things to help him cool off (hence the opening lines). Within about 40 minutes, one of the most iconic songs of the holiday season was created.
I think someone was drinking this cocktail before we took the picture. Not much left!
Kate's note to self, keep a closer eye on Drew.
We'd been wanting to do a brown butter-washed bourbon .. and what could be tasty in brown butter? Chestnuts! For this cocktail, we butter washed some bourbon and made an old fashioned out of it. We did two batches of bourbon, one with chestnuts sauteed and one without.
This cocktail also ushers in our final theme: Family. Because nothing makes us need a drink like family.
The Christmas Song Cocktail
2 oz brown butter washed bourbon (we used Wild Turkey)
1/2 oz cardamom syrup
1 dropper of Apothecary's General Ambrose's bitters
orange twist
Place all the ingredients but the orange twist into a cocktail tin with ice. Stir until chilled and pour into a rocks glass with fresh ice.
Cocktail Notes
For the most part, we followed the this recipe for making the brown butter washed bourbon. The proportions seem to be about 4:1 for the bourbon and butter. Keep an eye on the butter as it can go from light brown to burnt relatively quickly. To do the chestnut brown butter, we roasted, peeled and chopped 8 chestnuts and put them into the butter as it was melting and browning.
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