McKittrick

 

Story

I continue to be amazed at how a couple of little nudges can move a simple cocktail into a completely new zone.  The McKittrick is obviously a type of old-fashioned because it’s just booze, sugar, and bitters over ice.  In this case, though, the sweetness comes not from a sugar cube or simple syrup but in the form of Pedro Ximénez sherry.  This is not a brand – it’s the name of the white Spanish wine grape used to produce a rich, dark sherry.  It brings flavors of dried fruit, dark chocolate, and roasted coffee, rounding out the bourbon.  The mole bitters lean into those flavors and add a hint of cinnamon.  The combination yields a drink that I would sip in a private library full of leather-bound books on towering mahogany shelves.  The McKittrick was invented by Theo Lieberman, former head bartender at Milk and Honey.  It’s named after the “McKittrick Hotel”, a performing arts venue in New York that’s themed as a hotel and is in turn named after the hotel in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

Recipe

2 oz bourbon
0.5 oz Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry
2 dashes (0.25 tsp) Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters
-measure ingredients into a rocks glass, add a rock of ice, and stir seven times
-garnish with cocktail cherry