Woodford Reserve Cocktail Competition

So it’s not every day that the Gentleman’s Luncheon Club is invited to join the team at Woodford Reserve for an evening of cocktails and chat about one of my favourite tipples. Yes, the Gentleman’s Luncheon Club may be about Martini aperitifs, a damn fine Red and a post dinner port, but I’ve recently developed a taste for Woodford Reserve and Ginger, making it my new default tipple.

Woodford Reserve cocktail competition

You may have been aware that in February London Beer Week took place; which gave way to a myriad of pop ups and master classes across the capital, and it was as a result of this that I found myself at the rather splendid South Place Hotel (yes that of The Angler Restaurant fame) for a chance to create my very own twist on an old familiar cocktail.

Along with several other bloggers I tentatively took my seat as the guys from Woodford Reserve explained a little more about the bourbon. It certainly seems they are serious about the product and rightly so. Woodford Reserve has been in production since the 90’s, the Bourbon is still made in Kentucky with a very high corn content; which was obvious during the initial tasting’s. Certainly as we were asked to pick out the smells and the flavours I have to agree that if honey, cherry, caramel and marzipan are your thing then this particular bourbon is going to be up your street.

Whisky sour’s and Old Fashioned

Evidently with the advent of US TV shows such as Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire; London’s lust for bourbon based cocktails does not look like it is going to end. From Manhattan’s to Old Fashioned and whisky sours are currently taking London by storm, and it was because of this that I was at this event to sample some of the recent explosions in cocktails.

Having sampled a wonderful Old Fashioned; which if you do not know is a mixture of Woodford Reserve, Angostura Bitters and sugar syrup with an Orange twist; the challenge was set us. To get an understanding of the bourbon, have a taste of a couple and see if we could come up with our own take on an old favourite. With the bourbon still smacking on my taste buds, so I left into the cold night of London with my mind stirring overtime as to the type of cocktail I wanted to make.

Woodford Reserve Biscuit Sour

With one eye on the Whisky Sour I decided that this would be my base line cocktail and that if I added some more ingredients and changed the glass I could be onto a winner. And so it was that a couple days later the Biscuit Sour was born. I have to say that both my wife and I are big fans of this new cocktail and we recommend that you give it a go. The recipe is as follows:

Woodford Reserve Biscuit Sour

Glass: Martini Glass
Garnish: A cherry
Ingredients:
Based on a standard spirits measurement for 1 cocktail
1 x measure of Woodfords Reserve
1x measure of lemon juice (I used the juice from real lemons)
1 x measure of Pure Sugar Cane Syrup
½ measure of Amaretto
2 x measures of sparkling apple juice

Method:
Make sure your Martini glass is cold. You can either put the glasses in your freezer or fill up with ice cubes, leave for a couple of minutes and empty. Add The Woodford Reserve, lemon juice, sugar syrup and amaretto to a cocktail shaker. Shake the ingredients for a couple minutes, before adding the sparkling apple juice and stirring. Once stirred pour the drink via a strainer into your martini glass and add a cherry which will sink to the bottom. Serve and enjoy!