Today's cocktail: Bitter Devil / Devil Without a Cause

Today's ingredients: bourbon, ginger beer, Angostura bitters, lemon or lime

Today's gadgets: jigger

Today's vocabulary: part, bottled in bond

Bitter Devil / Devil Without a Cause

This is not an IBA cocktail. Instead, I found it buried in a pinned (is that the right word for stuff found on Pinterest?) article from Cosmo (don't judge me--this is for all of us, babe). On top of that, it's actually a variation on a trademarked Jim Beam drink called Devil Without a Cause. Madness, I tell you:

Devil Without a Cause (official)

• 1.5 "parts" Jim Beam Devil's Cut bourbon
• ginger ale (to top of glass)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Build in order over ice in tall glass.
• Garnish with lemon wedge or twist.

Bitter Devil (unofficial)

• 1oz Jim Beam Devil's Cut bourbon
• 2oz ginger beer
• 0.5 lime, juiced
• Combine all ingredients over ice and stir.
• Garnish with lime wedge

I didn't have Devil's Cut in the liquor pantry at home, and I don't generally find a need (or want) for it anyway, though you should try it for yourself if you get the chance--the 0.75L bottle around here is about $28, but it comes in a 50mL bottle for $2, so it'll be easy to add a couple to your next haul. I prefer less sweet, more robust flavors, and since there's no "official" version of this, I went with a hybrid of the two recipes with a whiskey audible thrown in:

My drink

• 3 "parts" Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond
• ginger beer to the top of an ice-filled glass
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• squeezed lemon wedge

Okay, some new words here. First, a "part" is simply an equal or relative amount of something, so anything that calls for two parts of something to one part of something else, you put them together in a 2:1 ratio. In bartending, a "part" is commonly considered an ounce, which is how I interpreted the official recipe and made me think that it would be sweeter than I would've liked. The easiest way to measure out your ingredients is with a jigger, which usually comes double-sided (1oz and 1.5oz). I use this one since it has additional measurements and bevels.

Second, the "bottled in bond" or "bonded" designation originated in 1897 and requires the following conditions: made in the USA by one distiller at one distillery within a single January-to-December distillation season. It was meant as a quality control measure at a time when many (most?) alcohol claimed to be something it wasn't. Its continued usefulness is debatable. I like Rittenhouse Rye as a good, middle-of-the-road yet higher ABV rye whiskey (another fuzzy shade of whiskey we'll talk more about another time) that goes for $25 at 0.75L.

Anyway, you might notice the similarities to the Dark & Stormy we tried recently, the changes being the alcohol (whiskey instead of rum) and the fruit (lemon instead of lime). This is a good opportunity to think about the differences in the two drinks. My version of the Bitter Devil (we'll call it a Bonded Satan) was ever-so-slightly more woody and peppery and less sweet and tart than the Dark & Stormy; however, in both drinks, ginger is the primary note despite the extra whiskey I used in my concoction, which made me think I should've used lime instead of lemon to mute the ginger--goodness knows any more whiskey would've made the whole mixing thing a moot point. If you have a sweet tooth, though, definitely go with the "official" recipe from Jim Beam. It's a long drink, so take your time and enjoy.