Latest / Into The Barchive / Bourbon’s Modern Classics: The Kentucky Buck & Iron Ranger
Transcript
- ITB: And two Comes alive. Forgotten drinks will revive. ⁓ we thrive. Sip the tails, let them die. Welcome to the barkive. Hello, Bark of this, and welcome back to Into the Barkhive. The podcast where we dive deep into the stories, people, and cocktails that shape the way we drink. I'm Tim Wright, mixologist, above average curious drinker, and your slightly tips or tour guide through Boo's history. And I'm Dr. Blake Jones, historian, mixologist, and certified specialist of spirits. Here to pour out the stories behind what's in your glass. September is Bourbon Heritage Month. And while it's easy to spend the month talking about dusty bottles, historic distilleries, or Prohibition Era classics, we're gonna take a slightly different route here. Yeah, today's episode celebrates modern bourbon cocktails, drinks that have already earned a place in the contemporary cocktail canon. They're young by cocktail standards, but they're influential enough that you'll find them on menus all over the country. We're featuring two cocktails created by one of the most influential bartenders of modern era, Eric Castros, Kentucky Buck and the Iron Ranger. Yeah, and both of these drinks showcase something bourbon does remarkably well. It can anchor a cocktail while still allowing bright fruit, spice, bitters, and even tropical flavors to share the spotlight. And along the way, we'll talk about Bourbon Heritage Month itself, the career of Eric Castro, and an often overlooked chapter in cocktail history. The West Coast cocktail renaissance. Because whenever people tell the story of the modern cocktail revival, the conversation usually begins in New York or London. So today we're headed west. So grab your favorite bourbon, pick up a shaker, and let's get into the barkive. We're gonna start by making Eric Castro's Tropical Bourbon Classic, the Iron Ranger. We're gonna start with two ounces of a cash strength overproof bourbon. In his original recipe, he called for cash strength makers mark. I've got some old granddad 114. So we'll use that as our overproof bourbon. From there, we're going to go back to the velvet. Falernum, half an ounce of it. So again, it's a Caribbean liqueur based on rum with lime, ginger, and clove. So get some spice notes there. We'll add three-quarters of an ounce of lemon juice to give the brightness and the acidity that we need for this cocktail. From there, a half ounce of simple syrup. Time to round out some of the sweetness. Then we're going to add an ounce of pineapple juice to our shaking tin. And then finally two dashes of Angostura bitters. So again, Japanese dasher. So we'll do four. Then we'll add a small scoop of our pebble ice, pour that into our big tin, and then we're gonna whip shake it. And so as we whip shake, what we're doing here is we're trying to get most of those pebbles to dilute. So maybe I put in a few more so we might not go all the way until we're hearing no pebbles at all. But once you hear that most of the ice that you put in is dissolved, that's why doing a short scoop is so important. You can break the tin and then in like a hurricane or poca grande glass, you will ⁓ party pour directly from the tin into your glass, like so. And then from there you're gonna want to fill the glass up with more pebble ice until it's pretty much full. Like that, we're gonna leave just a little room for our garnishes. So in here, we are gonna use some of that ⁓ mint, kind of give it a clap to wake it up just a little and put that there, and then to kind of further emphasize some of those baking spice notes, we're gonna add a cinnamon stick in. our Poco Grande glass right next to the mith to further accentuate ⁓ some of the aromatics when we place the straw right there. Hope you enjoy the Iron Ranger. Cheers. The Kentucky Buck, a muddled cocktail. What we'll do is take two ounces of our Nelson Green Bar Classic straight into our tin. Next, three quarters of an ounce of freshly squeezed lemon juice. And what makes this recipe so easy? The next ingredient, three-quarters ounce of our ginger syrup. We'll take a fresh strawberry, go ahead and chop that top green part off, slice it up into four to six pieces, and then drop it into your tin. I'm one of those ⁓ individuals that believes when I muddle, I want to muddle with all my ingredients. Some of you may think that you just muddle with your citrus, or you may muddle with just your sugar, or you may muddle with your citrus and your sugar, but I think, I mean, heck, go ahead and start letting all the flavors start to marry together while I'm muddling. After we have muddled, not pulverized, our strawberries. Give it a little tap. And next, we can't forget the most important ingredient in this cocktail. Thing to store bitters. We need two dashes, Japanese dasher, so four. One, two, three, and four. Let's ice down our tin. give her a what I would consider a modified regal shape. into a fresh Collins glass, highball glass. Put some ice. And I'm gonna do something slightly controversial. I like my soda water earlier on this one, just a little off to the side. So when I start to incorporate it, I know I can top it off at the very very end. Let's break the seal. And double strain. Don't forget we're double straining because we did use ⁓ some fresh strawberries. That means that flesh and seeds are in there and we want to keep those out of the drink. Strain that down. Like I said, started to incorporate it a little bit and now I can add just a little extra soda water on top. And we will take our straw, actually. And make sure that we give this thing a little garnish. On this one, I love playing on ⁓ the lemon and the strawberry notes, so give it a lemon half moon. Well, why not? Or our lemon moon, but go ahead and just give it a nice strawberry as well. And here we have our Kentucky Buck. Now that we've built the cocktails, let's build the context. National Bourbon Heritage Month. What is it? Well, in 2007, the United States Senate passed a resolution recognizing September as National Bourbon Heritage Month. In 1964, Congress had passed legislation recognizing bourbon as America's native spirit and a distinctive product of the United States. Now, we've got to be clear. This resolution didn't invent bourbon, it simply recognized what had already become true. Right? If sparkling wine kind of belongs to Champagne and tequila belongs to Mexico, bourbon belongs to the United States. It belongs to us, America. Yes. Okay. So these federal regulations define bourbon's production requirements. So some people talk about like, The ABCs of bourbon. So it has to be made in America. A. All right. It needs to be entered into new barrels. B. Right? Below 125 proof. It has to be at least 51% corn. C. And then I guess if we want a D, it's distilled below 160 proof. Okay. ⁓ it's bottled at 80 proof or higher. So Those all those things have to be true for it to be bourbon. I I noticed one thing that we need to call out here. Nowhere did we mention the state of Kentucky. Yeah, contrary to popular belief, bourbon doesn't have to be made in Kentucky. It can be produced anywhere in the United States. ⁓ in fact, ⁓ in honor of the most recent July 4th celebration, Lost Lantern, an independent bodler, ⁓ did a blend of bourbons from all 50 states. All 50 states have some kind of bourbon. Even Hawaii. I was thinking Alaska, but yeah, even Hawaii. Yeah, so like I mean, when I was in Hawaii in October, I bought the first ever Hawaiian bourbon straight Hawaiian bourbon. ⁓ but even though it doesn't have to be made in Kentucky, Kentucky does produce roughly 95% of the world's bourbon. That makes sense. I mean, all of those distilleries up in you know Bardstown, up in Louisville, Lexington, in those areas, right? Yeah, and and this is part of the reason why National Bourbon Heritage Month is so popular there in Kentucky. ⁓ it's so popular, like Distilleries release special editions during this time, right? Absolutely. ⁓ this September also marks like the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. And Bardstown, or you've got Bourbon and Beyond, ⁓ kind of a hybrid music bourbon festival. Bars create special menus, and enthusiasts spend the entire month exploring America's native spirit. It's fitting that we're not celebrating just bourbon's history. But it's present and future in this episode. Yeah, because cocktails like the ones we made today prove bourbon isn't trapped in the past, like it's still evolving with bartenders like Eric Castro. Then let's dive right on into that. Who is Eric Castro? Well, I mean, if you've enjoyed ⁓ craft cocktails at some point over the past 20 years, there may be a good chance you've had an Eric Castro cocktail even if you didn't realize it. Yeah. full honesty, one that you're gonna mention a little bit later when we started going through this, I was like, ⁓ that is one of his. So let's talk about it. The Kentucky Buck. The Pin ⁓ the Iron Ranger. The Pinha Verde though. That was the one I forgot. Yeah. Yeah, essentially a green chartreuse pina colada. But these sort of drinks, and he has many more But they've become staples on cocktail menus around the world. And you know, that's an accomplishment for any bartender, but let alone someone who's still very much actively shaping the industry. Would you say that I would say what do you appreciate most about why he's bringing to the table? I mean, what I appreciate about Castro is that he doesn't he's not like always chasing the next great cocktail. He's like, I want to create drinks that people actually want to order again. His philosophy is that complexity should be in the thought behind the drink. not necessarily the guest experience of drinking their drink. And Ben, that's harder than it sounds though. A a bartender can impress like a bartender impressing other bartenders, that's a feat in itself. And especially by putting like not putting, I guess, twelve, thirteen, fourteen ingredients in a class, but keeping it fairly simple. Absolutely. And I mean, in many ways Like making a complex cocktail with fewer ingredients is even more impressive, and that's really where Castro excels. So talk to me about his career then. And I mean, in many ways, Castro's career reflects the evolution of the modern cocktail movement. He worked behind some of the most influential bars in California before he started opening his own bars like Raised by Wolves and Polite Provisions. And most recently, Gilly's House of Cocktails. But even as his reputation has grown internationally, he's remained committed to the idea of the neighborhood bar. And I think that's a very important distinction, right? When people think of award-winning cocktail bars or imagining, hey, I've got to put in a reservation at this place like months, months in advance, where they've got these elaborate presentations. I mean, you you can think of it and It's more about the guest-taking photo ops than it is us talking about the sips in a glass. Yeah, and Cashers argued that the neighborhood bar serves an entirely different and equally important purpose. It's where people celebrate birthdays, decompress after work, watch the game, or simply become regulars. Like great cocktails shouldn't come at the expense of making people feel comfortable. That philosophy shows up. in these recipes, like mainly in most, if not all of his recipes. Yeah, I mean the Kentucky buck isn't that intimidating and the Iron Ranger isn't trying to challenge your palate. They're welcoming and you have the familiar flavors with ⁓ that's surprising as well. Yeah. I we'll talk about flavor profiles ⁓ a little bit later, but strawberry and ginger, right? Yeah. They go well together. Again, enough to keep bartenders and cocktail nerds interested, but approachable enough that someone ordering their first crap cocktail can understand why they're gonna be like, hey, this is really good, but then also go over and start shooting pool. So does this I guess this rolls into why we can say that his drinks have become this modern classic? Mm-hmm. They don't rely on necessarily obscure ingredients or clever gimmicks. Kastro seems to start with a flavor profile, and how can I make this a little more balanced, a little more refreshing, maybe a little more memorable? So there was an interview that you had read about, correct? Yeah, so in a recent interview, ⁓ Castro reflected that what excites him most isn't necessarily about inventing the next famous cocktail. It's filling bars where people feel connected. And he sees hospitality as creating community first and serving drinks second. And that's a mindset that's become increasingly valuable as the industry has shifted away from cocktail bars as like temples of mixology and back toward bars as gathering places, which I think is especially important like after COVID. Very true. It's fitting then that we're featuring two of his bourbon cocktails. During Burbage Heritage Month, they honor the traditions of an American whiskey, but they are not going to make you feel so nostalgic that it puts you or keeps you in the past, right? Like they're contemporary, they're practical, they're damn delicious. Yeah, and I mean perhaps Eric Casher's greatest contribution to modern cocktail culture is that he reminds us that the goal isn't simply to preserve cocktail history, it's to keep writing it. So you talked, ⁓ you spoke earlier about this. As we start to think about cocktail renaissance, it's always the East Coast or even over the sea and over the pond in London. This West Coast piece of the cocktail renaissance. ⁓ this is the first time that I've heard this concept. Walk me through. So typically we're telling very much a New York story of milk and honey, pay goo club, death and company, employees only, or in London, we talk a lot about dick. Bradsell. And those bars and people absolutely deserve recognition, but sometimes California gets reduced to a footnote. Yeah, and I'll take a step back. Not that I don't think that there were not West Coast bars, but more backup players. Like you said, a footnote. Yeah. Yeah, and it's kind of remarkable because California has been shaping American drinking culture for well over a century. They focus on fresh citrus, stuff that they can grow there, seasonal produce, they've got wine culture, they're the beginners of the whole like farm to table cuisine. These are the ideas that can naturally influence cocktails. Does the West Coast benefit from being like geographically one way compared to the East Coast or Yeah, I mean if you think about the geography, particularly of California, like ⁓ if you go from west to east, you know, you go from the coasts, you've got mountains, lots of agricultural lands. There's a lot of diversity and landscape terroir, climate, things like that. So that means you've got access to herbs around the year, stone fruit, citrus, berries. Fresh juice isn't a special occasion. They're just daily ingredients. They have I mean it Yeah, it's readily available. We're here in Middle Tennessee, we're kind of handcuffed of what we can get seasonally. And certainly much less than New York. Yeah. So San Francisco bars like Bourbon and Branch help revive a those preo pre-prohibition era techniques, right? Yes. So speakeasy style, things like that. You have Los Angeles embracing culinary cocktails, like, hey, what ingredients is the chef using in the kitchen. And in some ways, a lot of times California cocktail culture is driven by restaurant bars, right? And creating synergy behind what's happening in the kitchen and what you're doing in the bar. And and then you have San Diego where Castro currently is operating most of his businesses out of. It's more interesting creating those new classics. So that's where Eric's I guess his story and ⁓ I guess this is where we enter his story though, right? This restaurant, but then trying to now make it neighborhood and friendly, hang out again, not just one and done. Or just like, ⁓ we're going to quietly sit around and over hushed voices, enjoy our craft cocktails, you know. Casher is not trying to necessarily imitate Jerry Thomas. He's learned the classics. He and his generation are riding the next chapter again, where we can take our Kentucky buck, our Iron Ranger, sit there, and then keep watching the game, play a game of pool, or throw some darts, or just hang out and enjoy our well-crafted drinks. We've got a a cocktail in the Kentucky buck, okay? Mm-hmm. ⁓ before we start taking talking about the tasting profiles of this, walk me through a Kentucky buck. So a buck is one of the oldest highball family. So again, spirit carbonated mixer. But a buck specifically is a spirit combined with citrus and ginger. Traditionally, ginger ale. More commonly today ginger beer, because ginger ale now is not very gingery. No. So in many ways, like the Moscow mule is probably the most famous buck. Okay. ⁓ but it's also just one branch of a larger family. And so Castro said he was interested in the buck template because how adaptable it was. You can change the base spirit, adjust the citrus, ⁓ tweak. The ginger component, and still end up with something that feels entirely familiar. So the Kentucky Buck is simply a formula that translated to our bourbon country palette. Yes. And what's remarkable is how seasonal inspiration led to this modern classic. Okay. So Casher created this drink in 2008 while he was developing a spring cocktail menu at the San Francisco Speake-Z. bourbon and branch. And so again, thing about California and the abundance of produce, fresh strawberries are everywhere. Yep. And as he later recalled, he noticed there weren't really any bourbon cocktails in the classic books he was studying. So he set out to create his own. And so like many great cocktails, the final breakthrough just came from a tiny adjustment. Yeah. Two dashes of Angestura bitters. That was it. Add a little extra complexity and cash or joked that Angostura makes everything better. And it's hard to argue in the Kentucky book. And I guess I didn't do a as well as a job as I wanted to in the presentation, but the omitting of the Angostura was kind of a play on that. Remember, it is what makes the cocktail that cocktail. Yeah, the bitters help tie together the berry, the s ginger, the citrus, the bourbon. into something that tastes complete rather than just fruity. Yes. Right? A lot more complexity there. There's a lesson here about why some drinks become modern classics though, while others just disappear. Yeah, the nothing in this recipe is intimidating. Bourbon, strawberry, lemon, ginger, bitters. Done. You know, everyone knows more or less what those ingredients are. They recognize them. Absolutely. Now Castro himself has said that every bar new bar needs a signature drink. And when he later brought the Kentucky bar to another San Francisco bar named Rick House, it became exactly that. So although he invented it at Bourbon and Branch, it became it really took off at Rick House. Okay. And so ⁓ Rick House reportedly sold tens of thousands of Kentucky bucks in their first year. ⁓ in fact, ⁓ when I was in San Francisco back in March, I went to Rick House and it's like again a bourbon focus bar, so bourbon everywhere on the back bar, mainly bourbon based cocktails. I'm like, ⁓ by God, I'm gonna have a Kentucky buck here. but now it's everywhere. And you know, maybe that is the best definition of a modern classic, you know, not just a drink that's well designed, but one that other bartenders want to make. ⁓ and they want to make year after year, and patrons order year after year. I mean, take one sip and it's easy to understand why. Yeah, I mean, and it kind of goes back to you can make a good drink that people will order once and be like, ⁓ that's really interesting. A great drink is a drink. People order a second time. Yeah. The strawberries brighten this, the strawberries brighten the bourbon in this cocktail without masking it, right? The ginger, as we talked about early, is just ultimately refreshing. That ginger syrup, not doing a ginger beer or a ginger ale key there. ⁓ and then lastly, like the lemon keeps it lively. It's the thing that makes sure that it stays a little bit not flat, right? Just a strawberry for sweetness alone would have left it kind of flabby, where that lemon keeps it bright and slightly effervescent. Yeah, and you know, it's one of those things where this drink is approachable for someone who's new to bourbon, but it's nuanced enough. Like as a seasoned whiskey drinker, like you're like, wow, this is really good. So it's not just say, here, here's a drink you don't like bourbon, here's enough fruit and sweetness to mask it. It's like even as someone who drinks bourbon or whiskey knee, it's like, wow, that's good whiskey cocktail. Yeah. And you know, if you think about this cocktail, it's only like 20 years old, and the Kentucky butt feels like it's always been here. And, you know, in many ways, that's the highest compliment you can pay any recipe. ⁓ let's talk about the Iron Ranger for a moment. So this Eric Castro creation takes us an entirely different different direction. And what is that? A drink that ⁓ proves that bourbon can feel perfectly at home in the world of tropical cocktails. Okay. You know, it's essentially almost as if you someone accidentally poured bourbon instead of rum into a tiki drink. Very much so. And and that's what makes it so clever. Right? Instead of trying to make rubber bourbon taste like rum though, like it seems like Castro leans in more to those bourbon warm spice flavors. Yeah. So from the barrel you get vanilla, caramel, toasted oat baking spices, and that's playing with the pineapple and then the spices from the flernum and the bitters. I'm gonna tell you, I think the secret to this recipe is the flernum. Yep. It has to be, right? Yeah, and and again as we as I talked about in the demo, like Falernum is a Caribbean liqueur flavored with lime cloven ginger and almond. It's one of the foundational ingredients in tiki mixology. But here it's tying everything together, just that half ounce. The clove and ginger echo the spice notes from the barrel and the bourbon, and the citrus brightens the drink without overpowering it. Now we joke from time to time that people make their tropical cocktails by throwing a crap ton of pineapple juice at it and they call it a you know a tropical drink. Yeah. Pineapple is a great in ingredient when used respectfully. And this cocktail it it uses just a small amount. Yeah, just an ounce. An ounce. We're not talking three ounces like others, where they're just trying to mask or get fluff, right? So the pineapple here actually Adds some body to it. It gets some tropical sweetness and structure. Yeah, so and then, but having the lemon in it keeps everything crisp. Yep. The bitters provide that last layer of spice. And when you taste it, the drink doesn't feel sweet. It feels vibrant. So, ⁓ as you taste that cocktail, one of the remarkable things about the Iron Ranger is that it's surprisingly restrained compared to the ingredients that are in there. Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah, I mean, traditional tiki drinks often call for multiple realms, several syrups, and a long list of modifiers. Castro is pairing that list back to just a handful of ingredients. And again, creating a a ⁓ cocktail ⁓ that's easy to make at home without sacrificing complexity. For the perfect expression of Akashra's philosophy to like respect the classics. Mm-hmm. And then but the way he does it, he he uses their structure and then goes a completely different route though. Like he holds on just enough, but then there's this tweak. Yes. What is that? Well, I mean, it's a tweak that it seems familiar, but then Slightly new. It gives you that comfort, but like, ooh. Yeah. And so I mean, the Iron Ranger, it has that again, Tink of familiarity to it. ⁓ but playing in to enough of the spices, so it's almost like a whiskey sour-esque element as well. ⁓ again, it's not just about resurrecting the old recipes, it's creating entirely new ones. that are so well balanced that they feel like they've been around for forever. That's what the Iron Ranger is. So as we start to say, why do these drinks matter? I guess one question we would like to ask is, will anybody else still be making these cocktails like 50 plus years from now? I mean, I think the answer for both of today's drinks is hell yeah. But I mean, they're already appearing in cocktail books, right? They're in training menu, they're in bar menus, they're at competitions. People are using these as specs. Yeah. But they're still approachable enough for home bartenders, interesting enough for professionals, and balanced enough that they don't depend on what the latest viral TikTok trend is. And that's ultimately how a classic survives though, right? Like it's not because someone declares them a classic, it's because generation after generation, we keep ordering them. Absolutely. In today's episode, ⁓ it reminds us that cocktail history doesn't stop. Back in the 19th century, ⁓ every era creates their own classic. And sometimes those classics are already sitting on the bar menus that we visit in our neighborhood cocktail bars. Yeah, the Kentucky Buck and the Iron Ranger show how bourbon continues to evolve in the hands of thoughtful bartenders, respecting tradition while embracing fresh ideas, seasonal ingredients, and unexpected combinations. And remember. Every time you shake one of these up, you're participating in that story. Yep. As we conclude the today's episode, don't forget to like, subscribe, follow us on ⁓ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and on ⁓ Spotify and Apple for your podcast ⁓ listening pleasures. Absolutely. So next time, what do we got? So next time we're gonna continue with another episode ⁓ celebrating Bourbon Heritage Month, and we're going to explore Two modern creations by another California bartender, John Sander. So we'll be making The Democrat and the Revolver, cocktails that help redefine what bourbon could be in the modern craft cocktail era. Until next time, keep exploring the past, one drink at a time. As we dive deeper into the barcive.