By DCist Contributor Nathan Wilkinson
This time of the year you can find a scotch cocktail and a host of the deepest, smokiest single malts at any of D.C.’s popular bars. It stands to reason that a few adventurous bartenders will mix single malt cocktails, despite the warnings from scotch aficionados claiming that their whiskey needs nothing more than drop of water. But the single malt craze has been on the wane since the late aughts Until now, hip drinkers who have forsaken scotch for bourbons and ryes have had little reason to return to the whiskey from Scotland’s highlands and islands—until now.
The point of mixing cocktails is to improve the drinkability of spirits that many people find too potent or rich to enjoy neat. A good scotch cocktail will smooth over the harshness of the whiskey by balancing it with other ingredients. Blended scotch is almost intended for mixing because it is already a mixture of malted and pure grain scotch whiskies. Single malt, on the other hand, has the terroir of peaty waters and smoky barley that demands more attention and can make a drinker lugubrious. So when mixing single malt cocktails, it’s necessary to appease the serious malt heads; let the scotch stand out without turning off cocktail drinkers who haven’t acquired their taste for whiskey.
It stands to reason that Jack Rose Saloon (2007 18th Street NW), with the largest collection of single malts in the U.S., would have the widest selection of scotch drinks. I tried the Uncharted Seas, the creation of bartender Andy Bixby, who took his inspiration from the classic Blood and Sand. Replacing dry red wine, real cherries and muddled orange for cherry brandy and orange juice, Bixby’s drink is closer to an Old Fashioned and even uses Whiskey Barrel old fashioned bitters to complete the analogy. “When I first worked on the drink, I thought of going with a peated whiskey, like Laphroaig, but settled on the lighter Auchentoshan Three Wood,” says Bixby. The result is a highly drinkable cocktail for any time of year.
Jack Rose also offers The Prima Nocta, with Glenmorangie 10, Jameson, and house made oregat (almond) syrup and walnut bitters. This is a lip-smacking, malty drink that doesn’t come across as too obtrusive. The Big Trouble in China-China is the boldest of the three with Laphroaig 10, China-China (a French spiced and fruited wine liqueur) and Aveze (a French gentian root liqueur), topped off with dashes of Thai and Thomas Decanter Bitters.
Bar Charley (1825 18th Street NW) has a drink that is not for single-malt newbies. Bartender Julian Garcia makes the Glassgow, a cocktail containing ten-year-old Laphroaig, undoubtedly the smokiest whiskey in Scotland. He stirs it slowly while carefully mixing in the tiniest amounts of absinthe and dry vermouth to accentuate the flavors of this forceful scotch. It’s served cool, not cold, in room temperature crystal so that the warmth of the scotch comes through. And does it ever! This cocktail won’t disappoint drinkers who like their Laphroaig neat.
Mockingbird Hill (1843 7th Street NW), the sherry bar in Shaw, has an unexpected find: the High Kirk. It’s a drink that combines chamomile-infused Glenfarclas 12 with La Cigarrera Manzanilla sherry, Benedictine, and lemon oil. Served cold in a sherry glass, the golden cocktail is bold and citrusy with a heavy sherry body. Bartender Matt Ficke explains: “It is one of [head bartender] J.P. Fetherstone’s cocktails that is mostly sherry with a little single malt and other ingredients. He’s also playing off his Scottish roots with the name High Kirk,” referring to St. Gile’s Cathedral in Edinburgh. The drink has been a fixture at Mockingbird Hill since it won the National Sherry Cocktail Competition two years ago.
If you’d like to try a world-beating single malt cocktail recipe at home, I have experimented with my own version of the ever-popular Blood and Sand. It balances warm, smoky 16-year-old Lagavulin with bright Luxardo maraschino liqueur and sweet vermouth.
- 1 oz. Lagavulin 16
- 1/2 oz. orange juice
- 1/2 oz. Luxardo
- 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
- Singed orange peel
Shake all ingredients on ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lightly singed orange peel.
