I’m so dizzy
A few weeks ago I found myself in Milk and Honey and unsure what to drink. Not through lack of options you understand, the Milk and Honey menu has a great selection of delicious drinks ranging from Red Hooks to Fish House Punches, but rather through indecision. When in this predicament I usually defer my choice to the bartender in the hope he’ll come back with something tasty and unusual, and thankfully in a bar like Milk and Honey I’m rarely disappointed.
On this occasion, after asking for something rye-based, classic, and strong, the bartender returned with a Dizzy Sour, an interesting play on the standard sour family of drinks. Aside from a passing mention in Imbibe! I haven’t been able to find great deal of information on the drink. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to ask the bartender for the recipe he used, but Imbibe! provides a basic ingredient list and with a little experimentation I believe the following is a pretty decent approximation…
Dizzy Sour
- 1½ shots / 45 ml / 1½ oz rye or bourbon whisky
- ¾ shot / 22.5 ml / ¾ oz fresh egg white
- ½ shot / 15 ml / ½ oz lemon juice
- 2 bar-spoons Bénédictine
- 1½ bar-spoons sugar syrup
- ½ shot / 15 ml / ½ oz dark rum
- Shake all ingredients except the rum hard with ice. Strain in to an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and float the rum on top. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and add a straw.
My usual choice of rye for mixing is Rittenhouse Bonded, but I found it to be a little too bold for this drink so I recommended something a little softer like Sazerac or even a spicier bourbon like Buffalo Trace. It’s also worth using a reasonable dark rum as the float makes itself fairly noticable – I used Goslings Black Seal and while I’m no rum expert I find it works nicely.
When I first started trying to work out a recipe I neglected to include the egg white, and while the drink tasted okay it wasn’t the great cocktail I had in the bar. Remembering Milk and Honey’s habit of adding egg whites to sours I added some to my recipe and the drink was transformed. A full egg is a little too much, yielding a texture that is a bit too creamy and frothy, but ¾ oz, or roughly half a medium egg, is just the right amount to lend a smooth texture and help tie all the ingredients together.
On first sip the Dizzy Sour is little more than a slightly jazzed up Whiskey Sour, the Bénédictine providing a little extra interest but nothing much to shout about. However, as you drink the cocktail the rum slowly works its way in to the mixture, gradually creating a more and more complex flavour. The deep, aromatic notes from the rum really make the drink, and while I suppose you could just shake all the ingredients to begin with the gradual development of the cocktail is something I enjoy.
Be careful though – the Dizzy Sour is deceptively strong and after a few of these its you that may well be the dizzy one…
Posted in Bénédictine, Lemon, Recipes, Rum, Rye
If you liked this, the barman recommends...
November 8th, 2008 at 1:03 am
This looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing. My kind of whiskey drink!
November 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Jay,
What other liqueurs do you think you could sub for the Benedictine? I bet a few others would make for interesting drinks!
November 9th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Thanks for another inspiring variation on a Whiskey Sour, Jay.
More then a dizzling In-between Frisco Sour and a Rattlesnake.
I’m already curious on experementig with less pungent Rums on this one.
Lambs, El Dorado or maybee Wray&Nephew Overproof, carefully for the nose.
Dear Rick, I guess, there is no substitute (what an ugly word) for Bènèdictine. Alterantive compusures might work with Chartreuse, Strega or quality Absinthe.
Regards, G.
November 10th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Gonçalo, now you mention it the idea of El Dorado with this sounds very enticing – I may have to give it a go tonight!
Rick – as Gonçalo suggests Chartreuse might work, Licor 43 also springs to mind though you’d want to be careful with it. If I find anything else that works I’ll be sure to make a note of it here.
November 10th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
definitely trying one of these tonight
here is another nice rye sour variation:
2oz Rye (Rittenhouse)
.5 oz St. Germain
.5 oz lemon juice
.5 oz simple syrup
1 egg white (use the whole thing for this drink)
Many dashes of your favorite bitters (I tend to use angostura and Regan’s orange)
dry shake then hard shake over ice and strain – nor garnish necessary, though a cherry would work
November 15th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Sours – one of my favorite drink group
I made this one:
2 cl cane sugar syrup (simple syrup will work too)
3 cl fresh lime juice
7 leaves fresh sage
bruise it
add
4 cl glenfiddich 12 years old (perhaps another whiskey which isn’t too peaty is also good, but you must use what you have)
2 cl Drambuie
Shake hard with ice
fine strain into tumbler with large ice cubes
3-4 dashes of TBT orange flower water
one sprig of sage as garnish, no straws
The Name: “The Sage Scotsman”
ENJOY!
October 15th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
[...] are always a little declasse, if you ask me, unless they’re jazzed up into a Delicious or Dizzy or What-Have-You [...]