I realize that maybe I’m a little late to the game here, but I’ve been having a good time playing with White Whiskey this week. White Whiskey has been a trending spirit for the last two years or so, but doesn’t show much sign of slowing down in 2013. With new distilleries popping up left and right, they’ll need a product that can be released quickly and that tastes delicious. The problem with starting a whiskey distillery is that you need to wait sooooooo long for your spirit to age before it can be released. A business plan that has a multiple year period of waiting before profitability is rarely a hit amongst investors, so I see the unaged, white whiskey trend continuing.

My white whiskey of choice this week has been Death’s Door. It has a raw, wheat-y nose and a complex bouquet that is somewhat reminiscent of good tequila. I’ve found a lot of great (and easy) applications for white whiskey this week, with the top two being a White Whiskey Mule (recipe to follow down the road) and this cocktail, Smokey and The Bandit.

Smokey and The Bandit combines Death’s Door White Whiskey, Illegal Mezcal, Cocchi Americano and Regan’s Orange Bitters. It was a play off of a White Manhattan that evolved to include smokey notes from the mezcal and Cocchi replacing a white vermouth. It’s balanced, but aggressive in nature. The rawness of the White Whiskey combined with the smokey mezcal makes for a bold drink. I like it a lot, I think you will too.

Smokey and The Bandit

1.5 oz White Whiskey

0.75 oz Cocchi Americano

0.50 oz Mezcal

1 Dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Combine all the ingredients in a glass with ice and stir to combine. Strain into a v shaped glass, garnish with an orange peel and serve.

Filed under: Cocktail Tagged: Bitters, Cocchi, Mezcal, Whiskey