Earlier today I was kinda hot from making the critical mistake of walking around in New York in the summer, so naturally the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was get my buzz on. Normally I’d reach for a light beer, but all I had in my fridge was Leffe, so I had to improvise. I’d left a bottle of Wild Turkey front and center on my liquor cart, and instantly both a Manhattan and a Whiskey sour were front and center on my mind.However, I wanted something at least a little hydrating, so I got the wonderful idea to mix most of the ingredients from both together and spritz it up a bit.

WTF, is this a cooking blog now?

Given how little I post, I wouldn’t call this an anything blog. It’s just where I ramble about whatever’s on my mind every few months or so. I do intend to make a bit more cooking / cocktail content at some point, but notice the distinct lack of a lengthy backstory or photos on this post—I plan on keeping anything culinary-adjacent strictly limited to recipes and results of experiments.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1.5oz Wild Turkey bourbon

  • 1oz sweet vermouth

  • 2tbsp granulated sugar (or 3-tips of one of those controlled-pour sugar server thingies, I didn’t actually measure)

  • 1tbsp fresh lemon juice (or however much comes out of 1/2 a lemon, I didn’t actually measure)

  • seltzer water (prefer SodaStream or other highly-carbonated water; if you use something like S. Pellegrino that’s actually pleasant to drink plain, the final drink will be under-carbonated)

  • bitters

Instructions

  1. Prepare the glass: Add a few cubes of ice to a 12-oz glass (I used the conical Ikea ones that are ribbed for your pleasure. I have no idea what that kind of glass is actually called, it’s kind of like the “shaker pint” bad bars serve draft beers in but 12oz instead of 16.)

  2. Add the vermouth to the bottom of the glass.

  3. Shake the bourbon, sugar and lemon juice very hard. (Don’t worry too much if there’s a little bit of sugar left in the bottom of the shaker; I sure as hell didn’t.)

  4. Strain the contents of the shaker gently into the glass, taking care to maintain a bit of a “sunrise” effect with the sweet vermouth, if you actually care about that kind of stuff.

  5. Top with seltzer, and carefully incorporate the shaken ingredients with the seltzer with a bar spoon, taking care to avoid disturbing the layer of sweet vermouth on the bottom.

  6. Dribble some bitters on top in whatever artful pattern suits your fancy (but it better be a dick.)

  7. Forget to take a picture.

  8. Decide not having pictures in your posts is your thing now.

  9. Make 3 more, get a bit of a buzz on.

  10. Decide today is the day to revive your blog you’ve been ignoring for months.