Spirited Cocktails

During our Brown Liquor Tweetup earlier in the week, our group eventually made its way to a wonderful cocktail bar called the Clover Club. You may remember, I’ve posted about the Clover Club cocktail in the past, and while they seemed to do a fine job mixing their namesake drink, another cocktail on the menu caught my eye: the Ward Eight.

The Ward Eight is essentially a whisky sour, but with the addition of grenadine. In The Essential Cocktail, Dale DeGroff teaches us about its historic political roots in Boston’s Eighth Ward. The story goes that it was created on Election Eve 1898 to celebrate the victory of Martin Lomasney. Historians can debate if that’s true. While they do, I’ll be pouring myself a drink.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz rye whiskey
3/4oz fresh lemon juice
3/4oz simple syrup
1/4oz grenadine
Cherry to garnish

Combine all of your ingredients along with ice in your cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with a cherry.

The more observant among you will notice that this cocktail is remarkably similar to yesterday’s cocktail: the Jack Rose, and you’d be correct! Just like the Jack Rose, the Ward Eight follows the traditional sour recipe (2oz base, 3/4oz sweet and 3/4oz sour), and adds a touch of grenadine as well. The difference, of course, is the choice of base. The Jack Rose uses Applejack or Apple Brandy, and the Ward Eight uses whiskey. Either way, you really can’t go wrong.

Cheers!

Head on over to The Wednesday Weekly where our friend @EkeyNYC provides a round-up (and some great pictures!) of our brown liquor tweet-up earlier this week. @livethelushlife, @ekeynyc, @sweetblogomine, @csmcbride and I hit the bars in Brooklyn to sample some fine whiskey at Char 4, and some fine cocktails at the Clover Club. Check it out.

Many thanks to @EkeyNYC for the round-up and the pics!