As I left my house this morning and the sun hit my face, I felt the unprecedented warmth of early March and began to feel the excitement for Spring and Summer which are fast approaching. Long evenings, beer gardens, outdoor drinking and ice cold cocktails. One of my go-to cocktails in the summer is an Old Fashioned, and it is what it is - alongside the Scotch and Soda highball it's one of the most ubiquitous whisky cocktails out there. An old fashioned classic
But herein lies the question... What is the perfect Scotch to have with an Old Fashioned? "Surely an Old Fashioned is traditionally a bourbon or Rye-based cocktail", I hear you ask. Well, not necessarily, due to the genius of some ex-bourbon matured whiskies, a Scotch maybe just the answer we're looking for. Enter Compass Box's Delilah, "a style of Scotch whisky that thinks it's a bourbon" - This whisky was created by John Glaser in homage of a Chicago Rock Bar of the same name. Matured in a mixture of new American Oak Barrels and rejuvinated American Oak Hogsheads, this blended whisky comes packed full of flavour. On the nose you could easily mistake this for a bourbon (initially at least) there's plenty of butter, banana milkshake, dried mango, and sweet vanilla, and in the mouth there's all this and more with a dash of spice and rich, roasted coconut flakes. Now to mix our cocktail:
Prepare a tumbler with ice. A good tip is to store your tumbler in the freezer before preparation.
Now add:
A double shot of Compass Box Delilah
1 teaspoon of sugar syrup
2 dashes of bitters (I used Angostura)
Stir thoroughly until your ice has melted and diluted the whisky slightly and garnish with a twist of orange.
Slainte!