My bar cart is a crowded, chaotic piece of furniture. At the front, we have the stuff I use on a near-constant basis—gin, Campari, bourbon, and rye—but things get little more esoteric towards the back. As you make your way deeper into my collection of ethanol, you’ll find a lot of liqueurs and amari, including a bottle of blackcurrant liqueur, which I purchased in order to make Kir Péttilants and them promptly forgot about.
But, even though it is fantastic in bubbly, the moody-looking Creme de Cassis and similar specimens can be used to give any basic cocktail fruity flavor and a dark, sexy appearance. Whiskey lemonade is one such “cocktail.”
I put the word “cocktail” in quotes because it’s really more of a mixed drink—two liquids poured together to create a pleasant tasting, unfussy beverage that gets the job done. Adding cassis and shaking it on ice transforms it into something worthy of a coupe, rather than a red Solo cup. (No offense to the great red cup. I love you, red cup.)
The small amount of effort that’s required to make a cassis whiskey lemonade is, in my opinion, completely worth it. It’s less lemonade-forward than its two-ingredient inspiration, but that just means it’s boozier. Any cassis-flavored liqueur will work, whether it’s proper Creme de Cassis, Chambord, or some sort of local blackcurrant liqueur (which is what I have). To make a cassis whiskey lemonade, you will need:
- 2 ounces lemonade
- 1 1/2 ounce whiskey (bourbon or rye)
- 1 ounce Creme de Cassis or some other black-currant liqueur
Pour everything into a shaker filled with ice and shake hard until the shaker becomes very, very cold. Strain into a coupe glass.
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