Welcome back friends - it's Anders. Today, I'm making two cocktails!
The first is called a Sentimental Gentleman, which is a whiskey-based cocktail. It's in the vein of a Rusty Nail - if you like a cocktail like that.
It has kind of a sweetness, with an herbal liqueur, and a little walnut bitterness.
It is wonderful.
But I'm also going to do a variation on that drink called a Staggering Gentleman.
Which is one that we came up with at the bar that I used to work at. It's a very clever name.
I can't say that I came up with it,
but Staggering Gentlemen has two meanings because it is staggeringly strong -
we use a barrel strength bourbon as the base, but not just any barrel strength bourbon -
Stagg Jr. Which has actually become a rather hard bottle to find.
If you do find it, it's going to cost around $250.
Why would I use a $250 bottle of bourbon to make a cocktail?
That's a great question.
Thanks for asking.
The truth is this bottle did not cost $250 when I was making this drink at the bar.
It just cost that now. And it's the same bourbon, and it made for a great cocktail.
I'll talk more about this later.
All of this brings me to today's sponsor, Unicorn Auctions.
Unicorn is an online auction house that specializes in rare bottles - also called unicorns.
And they were kind enough to gift me this bottle. I've known these guys for years, and they're great people.
In fact, why don't we just go there -
[whispering] Okay, I'm inside the belly of Unicorn. They are sponsoring this video,
and if you want to get involved, download the app. I'll leave a link in the description down below.
But I just wanted to show you all of these bottles.
Umm -
Hey man - you can't be here.
I - you guys are sponsoring the video -
Yeah that's at your place, not here.
Oh - I'm so sorry.
[whisper] To the bar.
[intro music]
The Sentimental Gentlemen is a cocktail that was created by Misty Kalkofen.
And Misty is a prominent figure in classic cocktails. She's a Boston bartender, and she's a founding member
of the Boston chapter of Lupec. L-U-P-E-C
Which stands for: Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails.
And they raise money for local charities.
Now I don't know exactly when she created the Sentimental Gentleman, but it was recently - like within the last ten years.
And what I appreciate about her approach to cocktails is that her expertise lies in the classics.
And that carries over to her original drinks. Which is how I build cocktails - in my mind.
And this is a great cocktail. It's just three ingredients, balanced, drinks like a classic.
I really don't know that that many people know about it, so I want more people to know about it.
Because it's a great drink. But I'm also going to illustrate how you can substitute
different spirits out, and make a completely different cocktail that's still going to be good. That'll be the Staggering Gentleman.
But first we are going to make the Sentimental Gentleman.
Then we'll get onto the Staggering Gentleman and we'll talk about why it's so controversial.
Now the booze.
For the Sentimental Gentleman, we are going to need blended Scottish whisky,
Bénédictine,
and a walnut liqueur.
The blended Scottish whisky I'm using is Monkey Shoulder,
the Bénédictine is Bénédictine, and the walnut liqueur is Nux Alpina Walnut.
I don't know how to say it, but it's made in Austria, and it's very, very good.
I've been using it a long time, and I just call it the walnut liqueur.
But if you have a favorite, that's what you should use.
Bénédictine - this kind of sweetens it up with an herbal honey sweetness, so this drink is gonna drink similar to a Rusty Nail.
If you like a Rusty Nail, you're probably gonna like this drink.
As for the Monkey Shoulder, this is a blended malt whisky, and I really enjoy mixing with this.
It's a blend of three malt whiskies - so it has a lot of malt, but it also has notes of vanilla, it's really soft, and it just plays well with other spirits.
Let's build.
Alright - all spirit, so grab your mixing glass.
And we're gonna start with the blended whisky. Two ounces of blended Scottish whisky,
half an ounce of the Bénédictine,
and another half ounce of the walnut liqueur.
Now we can add ice and stir - to chill and dilute.
That looks about right.
So I'm going to serve this in a lowball.
Either on the rocks or a big cube. And strain off the cocktail.
No garnish. You could add a lemon zest if you'd like. The Sentimental Gentleman.
Cheers!
That really is wonderful - extremely soft. This drinks smoother than an old fashioned, I think.
There is a chocolaty element to this drink.
Delicious.
Yeah - this is really sentimental. I am just thinking of grand old things.
Hmm
Now the Staggering Gentleman.
Ahhh
Now for the Staggering Gentlemen, we're going to get rid of the Monkey Shoulder,
and we will grab the Stagg Jr. This is barrel proof - much stronger than the previous whisky.
Hence the Staggering Gentleman - because it's staggeringly strong, but also Stagg Jr.
Of course you don't have to use this bottle for this cocktail. If you want a Staggering Gentleman,
use another barrel strength bourbon. Give it a try - if you want a strong cocktail.
Now we get to the controversial part of the Staggering Gentleman.
Now I'm not just using this bourbon because it's a clever name, but it's also a good bourbon in this drink.
Some people say it is blasphemy to mix with a high-end whiskey, and - well i've got a lot of things to say on this,
but lately bourbon has really taken off in the last five to ten years, I'd say.
There's just high demand for good bottles of bourbon, and they're really hard to come by.
And because of that - here's your lesson in economics - because of that, the price goes up.
However, this whiskey is the same whiskey that I was working with back then, and it was much cheaper.
What I'm looking for is that cocktail that I enjoyed years ago.
But what I believe is - if you have that bottle, you should enjoy it however you want to enjoy it.
If you just want to have it neat or on the rocks, special occasions,
or if you want to mix it into a simple cocktail like an old-fashioned, manhattan.
It's your prerogative. That's your bottle. I say you should do what you want.
That's up to you - you can do that.
I'll be honest, most of this I'm going to drink with a splash of water.
It's very strong - the splash of water kind of brings the proof down and opens it up,
but I also want to taste this cocktail that I haven't tasted in a long time.
There was a period I thought maybe I would never taste it again,
but today I'm going to!
So without further ado..
let's build!
Okay.
Back to the mixing glass.
We're gonna do the same ratios as the Sentimental Gentleman.
Two ounces of your barrel proof bourbon,
half an ounce of Bénédictine - just like before, and then half an ounce of the walnut liqueur.
Now we can add ice and stir. About the same amount of time. You could technically stop a little sooner than the 30 seconds.
Higher proof spirits make ice melt faster. There's so many factors though -
how cold your mixing glass is, the ice, just watch it.
[laughter]
That looks good.
Drop in your ice, and strain the cocktail right into the glass.
Just like before, no garnish.
The Staggering Gentleman.
Cheers!
Ahh
Strong.
A lot of spice from the barrel, and you get the heat - kind of catches up to you.
You still pick up on the honey sweetness from the Bénédictine, a soft bitterness from the walnut,
but it certainly is bourbon up front.
Soon you will be staggering.
This template that Misty has given us works with just about any whiskey - at least all the ones I've tried.
So try a Canadian Gentleman, or an Irish Gentleman, or a Japanese Gentleman.
Az?
Ah sure.
Wow! [laughter]
Thank you for watching. Like and subscribe.
Thank you to Unicorn Auctions,
and thank you for the really good bourbon.
I will see you next time.
Cheers!
I should be on a couch right now.
[music fades]