Bourbon’s All-American Roar(1)
New barrels made from white oak, top, were charred this month at a Brown-Forman facility in Louisville, Ky. Bourbon is aged in such barrels before it is bottled.
Luke Sharrett for The New York Times
IT sounds like a taunt here in Bourbon Country: Go ahead, mix my Manhattan.
But as the holiday imbibing season approached, five bartenders entered a “shake off” this month at the Kentucky Derby Museum, to see who could work the most magic with bourbon, a singularly American spirit that has turned out to be a singularly American success story. The winner was Karla Ramsey, and here is her Manhattan recipe:
2 ounces Woodford Reserve Bourbon
1 ounce each of apple brandy and sweet vermouth
2 splashes bitters
1 red apple slice and 1 cinnamon stick, for garnish
Shake the liquid with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the apple slice and the cinnamon stick. Light the cinnamon on fire!
Sure, the event was as much about marketing as mixology — but then again, today’s bourbon boom represents a triumph of salesmanship. At a time when many American industries are struggling, distillers here are thriving, hiring and expanding. They are cashing in on an American renaissance in whiskey-based cocktails, as well as a growing thirst for bourbon around the world.
Bourbon is one product America still makes better than anyone else — and, in at least one way, it always will be. That is because Congress decreed in 1964 that “bourbon whiskey is a distinctive product of the United States.” Three elements make bourbon unique: American corn, pure limestone water and new, charred oak barrels.
