Friday Cocktail: The Reengineered Bourbon and Coke

It is your favorite drink from college, all grown up. Featured recently in Garden & Gun, the Reengineered Bourbon and Coke has all of the familiar flavors of the classic, but correctly proportioned. A sweeter wheated bourbon with some wood influence works best here. The recipe calls for Makers 46, but Weller 12 would also do nicely. The Coca-Cola syrup is ridiculously easy to make and keeps nicely in the fridge, and using only a quarter ounce of syrup keeps this drink from being overly sweet. 

This cocktail is probably too fussy to make at a tailgate (or to sneak into a football game), but it will do just fine for the NCAA tournament games on TV this weekend.

Reengineered Bourbon and Coke

Adapted from Garden & Gun and Stephen Dennison

Ingredients

For the syrup:

- 1/4 cup cane sugar Coca-Cola 

- 1/4 cup sugar (caster sugar works best)

For the cocktail:

- 2 oz. Makers 46 or other wheated bourbon

- 1/4 oz. Coca-Cola Syrup

- 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

- Lemon twist (or Maraschino cherry) to garnish

Preparation

For the syrup, put the Coke and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat.  Stir until dissolved. Cool and refrigerate.

For the cocktail, combine the bourbon, syrup, and bitters into a cocktail shaker with ice. Stir for 30 seconds (G&G says to shake but this turns the cocktail cloudy) and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with lemon peel or cherry and serve.