Alpine Meadow in its earliest form (yeah I know … terrible photo)
My Alpine Meadows cocktail had its beginnings back in January 2010 when I introduced the serving as a suggested cocktail for the Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Single Malt Whisky. This was early days for my website, and at that time I was just dipping my toes in the cocktail world.
The genesis of thought for the serving, is that I felt the floral notes within the Glenfiddich whisky and its firm oak character could be paired with the piny flavour of gin. It was just a thought, albeit perhaps a thought that ran contrary to the more common view that one should leave fifteen year old Single Malt whiskies alone as they are just fine the way they are.
I knew that a bridge needed to be built to encourage the coupling of the piny gin and the floral oaky single malt scotch, and so I added an orange liqueur and was pleased enough with the result to publish the serving within the body of that whisky review.
I have returned to that serving several times as a suggested serving for other whisky spirits as I have discovered that it’s construction is suitable for a wide range of Single Malt and Canadian Whiskies.
Today I am going to give everyone an improved construction based on a few tweaks which I believe improves the libation. The first tweak is the addition of bitters, Bittermen’s Boston Bittahs to be exact. These particular bitters have a firm citrus backbone which is paired heavy dose of chamomile. This adds a light floral punch to the cocktail. I am also adding a garnish, specifically orange zest which compliments not only the whisky, but also the gin and the citrus forward bitters in the serving.
This time around I am using a young Canadian Single Malt Whisky, Macaloney Caledonian Invermallie – Portuguese Re-charred Red Wine Barrique (that’s a mouthful isn’t it) paired with Burwood Dry Gin which is made in Calgary. Hopefully many of you will find the improved version of my cocktail as enjoyable as I do.
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Alpine Meadows
1 1/4 oz Macaloney Caledonian Invermallie (Port Red Wine Barrique)
2/3 oz Burwood Gin
1/3 oz Bols Triple Sec (sub any quality triple distilled orange liqueur)
dash Bittermen’s Boston Bittahs
ice
Citrus Zest
Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain into chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with citrus zest
Enjoy Responsibly!
Note: If you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!
Lion’s Tail
And celebrating Irish culture is not a bad thing; it was after all the Irish who first distilled “uisce beatha“, which translates into English as “the water of life“. I could go into a long and detailed etymology, but suffice it to say that “uisce beatha” is probably very close to the original form of the word which would later become “whiskey”.
Here is Leo Engle’s Rum Crusta mixed with the modern Flor de Cana 4 Aged Rum.
For Pride month, Smirnoff has created six global cocktails inspired by the international LGBTQIA+ community. These are easy to make and delicious enough to whip up for any Pride celebration (and are sure to be a hit). In support of inclusivity, The Rum Howler has been sharing these cocktails (and maybe later, one of his own creation) throughout the month of June.
The Rum Howler Blog 