Whiskey

Filled with rich bourbon notes and glazed with rosemary, brown sugar, mustard, and bourbon, this festive ham makes for a delicious and stunning holiday centerpiece.

When I was growing up in Louisiana, fall meant pecans littering the ground from the stately trees in our suburban neighborhood. On walks home from the bus stop, we would dip into various neighbors’ backyards and gather as many pecans as would fit in our pockets and backpacks. My favorite thing to do once all the nuts had been shelled (by hand!) was to make pecan pie. This recipe uses cane syrup, which adds a more complex sweetness than corn syrup. Plus, by toasting the pecans, you bring out the .…

Buttery brown sugar caramel flavors this ice cream, with an added boost from bourbon.

This fresh, tangy, tropical-style cocktail plays up the rich rum finish in Angel’s Envy Rye, without overpowering the whiskey’s spice.

Is there a better combo than a peach, a porch, and some port-finish bourbon? In this whiskey sour riff, an easy vanilla-honey syrup compliments the flavor of the whiskey and peach nectar.

Enjoy your bourbon enhanced with a touch of chocolate and sweet-and-savory spice notes. This cocktail is great with barbecue.

This refreshing pick-me-up, made with rye, sherry, and crisp cold-brewed black tea, is slightly nutty, slightly malty, tart and thirst-quenching.

This bourbon cocktail brings warming spices into a crisp cooler. For the cinnamon apple spice tea, steep one cinnamon apple spice tea bag (such as Celestial Seasonings) in six ounces hot water for 2 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before using.

This light and modern take on the espresso and tonic is layered in the glass.

Put together spicy rye, smoky mezcal, and coffee-accented amaro, and it’s easy to understand why Joe Briglio, of Chicago’s Billy Sunday, describes this cocktail as “my interpretation of the flavors of the early American West and possibly a cowboy’s campfire.” The drink name is inspired by a Tom Waits song called “Goin’ Out West,” he adds.

Manhattanesque in both composition and deliciousness, this whiskey and sherry welcomes swapping in bourbon if you prefer your drink a little sweeter.

Strawberries shine in this tall, refreshing, gingery cocktail, made with bourbon, fresh lemon, muddled berries, and spicy ginger beer.

This winter cocktail is bright and fizzy, spicy with ginger, and smoky with Scotch. Think of it as a Penicillin, gone extra-festive.

No new drink of the twenty-first century has gone further in terms of fame than this complex, spicy, smoky turn on a Whiskey Sour. 

This easy-to-make cocktail was one of the earlier drinks I created for the bar menu at our Brentwood restaurant, Tavern. It is made with a honey syrup infused with fresh ginger and chiles de árbol, so you get those flavors and that heat in the cocktail. I added grapefruit to make it tangy.