Photo by Karon

Drink of the Week: Rickey
Where: The Passenger and other locales

There’s nothing better on a hot summer day than a rickey. As we mentioned before, the D.C. Bartender’s Guild is hosting a contest over the summer to find the best variation on a rickey. Some interesting variations have included plum juice and preserves (Amy Troutmiller, Urbana), and date syrup and Campari (Patrick Owens, Jaleo). (Check out Food & Wine for some recipes.)

During the past month, I’ve gone around town sampling a large number of rickeys to get stamps on my rickey passport, as well as making some of my own at home. To quickly recap some of what we’ve written about rickeys previously, the rickey contains gin or bourbon, lime juice, the rind of the lime, and club soda. When sampling that many rickeys, it gets me thinking about what makes a perfect rickey, even if it’s a variation.

One thing was overwhelmingly apparent after experimenting at home is that a bourbon rickey requires the right bourbon. Serving myself and a friend a Knob Creek rickey, it tasted like someone had merely added lime juice to bourbon — there was no integration of flavors. My friend chastised me the next day for making him one of the worst drinks ever. Luckily, Woodford Reserve is one of the sponsors of the rickey contest, and it fares a lot better with the lime juice.