Thursday, October 20, 2011

Cocktail Wednesdays: The Buster Brown

Buster Brown Cocktail

Yesterday, spent the afternoon and early evening priming the ceiling in the basement (not to mention a few walls before that), and by the time Scott got home, I was ready to collapse. I didn't have the energy to cook the meal I had thawed ingredients for, and I hadn't picked a cocktail either. Scott sweetly took care of everything, but not a cocktail. Tonight, on the other hand, I felt up to trying something. I picked something with lemon, since Scott wasn't having a cocktail with me; he just had a glass of whiskey. This Cocktail Wednesday Thursday's drink of choice was the Buster Brown.

I can only assume that the Buster Brown is named after the cartoon character, but I can't confirm that, and there are also other candidates in a blues singer and a baseball player. It is a twist on the whiskey sour. The Buster Brown has 25-50% less lemon juice, and it adds the aspect of orange bitters.

The Buster Brown:

1 1/2 oz Bourbon
1/2 oz Lemon juice
1/2 oz Simple syrup
2 ds Orange bitters

Combine all ingredients and shake over ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.

The recipe I used came from a new favorite resource of mine, Kindred Cocktails. I found this website through a comment on my misguided first attempt at the Colony Cocktail. Not that we've tried a second attempt yet, but we do know what real maraschino is now! At any rate, the reason I find it useful is that you can not only search and filter recipes by ingredient or recipe name, but you can also create a "Cocktail Book" of recipes you like or want to try, and you can rate drinks. You can create categories within your cocktail book, and you can print a menu with recipes. Some other Buster Brown recipes I found while trying to find something on the history of the drink have less syrup or less lemon juice. The recipe on the Cocktail Database uses sugar rater than simple syrup, and the recipe on Vintage Recipes uses gum syrup. Personally, I'm a bit curious as to what the results would be it I substitute syrop de citron, ad if this is something I could try routinely for Scott to bring down the acid level in drinks with lemon. Then again, he might be able to handle the reduced quantity of lemon in this drink.

The verdict: Personally, I find this much nicer than a typical Whiskey Sour. The orange bitters add a surprising amount of orange flavor for such a small quantity, and it balances fairly equally with the lemon. The bitters add depth to the drink as well, in a way that orange juice would not. Perhaps it could use more whiskey and/or less simple syrup, but I did like it.

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