Black History Month, Chilled 100 Cocktails Edmond’s Honor

In Honor of Black History Month, The Chilled 100 Bartenders Craft Bespoke Cocktails Highlighting Edmond’s Honor Bourbon.

In partnership with Pronghorn, Chilled 100 Bartenders develop original cocktails that not only showcase their individual style but also highlight the unique qualities of Edmond’s Honor bourbon.

When creating this cocktail, I wanted to use ingredients that would highlight the vanilla and Cognac notes imparted from the barrels. I infused Edmond’s Honor with brown butter for the baking spice caramel notes that pair well with vanilla. I added a grape honey syrup to call back to the grape base of Cognac, which is present in the previously used casks Edmond’s Honor is aged in. I use honey as the sweetener for its floral flavors that pair well with the spirit, and as a reference to the importance to the history of the manual pollination of vanilla.

Golden Flower

by Brenda Riepenhoff – @briepenh

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Brown Butter Washed Edmond’s Honor Bourbon
• ½ oz. 2:1 White Grape Honey Syrup
• 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
• White grape on a pick with a lemon curl (for garnish)

Preparation

1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir, strain over sphere in a rocks glass.
2. For the brown butter Edmond’s Honor, melt a stick of butter over medium heat, and keep on heat until the butter starts to brown.
3. Take off heat and cool, then add to 16 oz. of whiskey, leaving at room temperature for two hours.
4. Put in freezer for 24 hours, then strain through cheesecloth.

*White Grape Honey Syrup

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Ingredients

• 1 cup honey
• ½ cup water
• 1 ½ white grapes

Preparation

1. Add 1 cup honey, ½ cup water, and 1 and ½ cup white grapes to a saucepan.
2. Muddle the grapes and bring to a boil.
3. Once boiling, leave to infuse at room temperature for an hour and then strain through a chinois.

I wanted to create a creamy style espresso martini with a twist. This cocktail does not have the dark bottom layer with the foam top; instead, it looks and tastes like a latte or spiked coffee drink.

The Albius Latte

by Terence Allen – @mixapothecary

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon 
• 1 oz. Coffee Liqueur (Mr. Black)
• ½ oz. Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur
• ½ oz. Licor 43
• 1 oz. Cold Espresso
• 3 coffee beans (for garnish)

Preparation

1. In a cocktail shaker, add all ingredients except the beans.
2. Dry shake for 10 seconds.
3. Fill the shaker with ice and shake for 30 seconds.
4. Strain into a red wine glass.
5. Garnish with three coffee beans.

Honorable Mention is an ode to Edmond Albius and his contribution to botany and science. I wanted this drink to elicit feelings of warmth, richness, and comfort. Pulling in the aroma of vanilla and cinnamon, I used Licor 43 to further develop that flavor. Cherries and pineapples are a wonderful example of what proper pollination can also achieve, so the addition of a Brazilian Cherry liqueur, pineapple juice, plus the added bitterness of the cherry coffee bitters lends wonderfully to the dry and complex bourbon. Adding the egg pays homage to one of the most popular drinks of the time, a flip, which utilized the warm and rich flavors of molasses and brandy.

Honorable Mention

by Jessie Marrero – @nevikittydrinks

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon
• ¾ oz. Licor 43
• ½ oz. Ginja Sour Cherry Liqueur
• 1 oz. Pineapple Juice
• 1 Whole Egg
• 3 dashes All the Bitters Cherry Coffee Bitters
• Pinch of Salt
• Coupe glass with a spritz of Vanilla Extract

Preparation

1. In a shaker tin, combine all ingredients.
2. Make sure egg is pasteurized, washed, and at room temperature.
3. Dry shake all ingredients to incorporate egg.
4. Add ice.
5. Wet shake another 20 seconds.
6. Double strain into coupe glass.
7. Spritz vanilla extract on outer glass rim.

Upon first tasting Edmond’s Honor, I was snowed in. The warming vanilla notes reminded me of being curled up on the couch, but the part of me that’s yearning for warmer weather thought this spirit would be perfectly paired with an orange creamsicle ice pop. Doing that in a whiskey sour just seemed like the perfect way to pass the storm until the plows came.

Return to Rockview Sour

by Matthew Brown – @mattfnbrown

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon
• 1 oz. Fresh Cara Cara Orange Juice
• ¾ oz. 2:1 honey syrup*
• ¼ oz. Lemon Juice
• ½ Egg White
• Peel of the Cara Cara Orange (for garnish)

Preparation

1. Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker (add a dash of your favorite cocktail bitters), shake without ice to froth the cocktail, shake again with ice, strain into a rocks glass and add ice if desired.

*2:1 honey syrup

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Preparation

1. Combine 50g honey and 25g of water in a saucepan and place over medium heat and stir until ingredients completely blend.
2. Take off heat, transfer to a separate vessel and let chill in the fridge for a few hours until cool.

I wanted to incorporate elements of a date night into this drink (cocktails, movies/popcorn, chocolates/candy, etc.)

Date Night

by Michael Lebron – @aliastheaddikt

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Edmonds Honor Bourbon
• ¾ oz. Popcorn Syrup
• ½ oz. Banana Liqueur
• 1 oz. Lemon Juice
• 1 Bar Spoon Caramel Syrup
• 1 Egg White
• 3 dashes Chocolate Bitters
• Bruléed Banana (for garnish)

Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients in shaker with three ice cubes.
2. Shake until ice is melted, then continue to dry shake.
3. Pour into coupe, garnish with chocolate bitters and bruléed banana slice.

The smooth taste of vanilla beans and sweet aroma of orange blossom in Edmond’s Honor Bourbon inspired me to create a vibrant spring cocktail. Both flavors have flowers that blossom but are never really thought about, like the untold story of Edmond Albiss. A young black botany prodigy created a technique to hand pollinate vanilla on the Island of Bourbon (now Reunion) in 1841. Apricots & Mandarin oranges symbolize happiness, prosperity, love & education, which embodies Edmond Albius and the legacy of Edmond’s Honor Bourbon.

Blossom

by Alexis Roberts – @robertsbartending

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon
• 1 oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• 1 oz. Apricot Purée
• 1 Mandarin Orange
• 1 oz. Honey Syrup 
• Edible Flowers

Preparation

1. Fill shaker with ice pour Edmond’s Honor Bourbon, St. Germain, Apricot purée, one fresh squeezed mandarin orange, and honey syrup (equal parts water and honey).
2. Shake and strain over crushed ice.
3. Garnish with sliced mandarin orange and edible flower. 

I’ve had plenty of friends from reunion island and I always admire their groceries, so my goal for this cocktail was to keep it simple and bring it to the masses, so they begin to order it themselves.

Edmond’s Revolver

by Jorge Mondragon – @luckaftertragedy

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon
• 1 oz. Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur
• 2 Dashes Orange Bitters
• 2 Dashes Chocolate Bitters 
• ¼ oz. Amaro Vecchio Del Capo Rinse
• 25 g Reunion Island Coffee

• 1 tbsp Sugar
• ½ tbsp Water
• ½ tbsp Bourbon
• Orange Zest
• Expressed orange peel with lighter

Preparation

1. In a mixing tin, add 2 oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon, 1 oz. of Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur and two dashes of orange bitters and two dashes of chocolate bitters.
2. Fill with ice and shake in separate tin, add ground coffee beans from Reunion Island, sugar, a few drops of vanilla extract, orange zest, and bourbon.
3. Use hand mixer to aerate until foamy.
4. Once done, rinse martini glass with Amaro, then pour first shaker into same glass.
5. Lastly, top with foam coffee from second tin and then garnish with orange zest, but also with expressed orange peel on main cocktail.

This cocktail is inspired by my love of nature, exploring and foraging. There is a fruit called the maypop that grows from the passionfruit flower locally in the DMV, foraging for it is one of my favorite adventures. The flavor resembles that of a ripe passionfruit, which is a great pairing with the vanilla character of Edmond’s Honor.

Passion Flower Sour

by Jon Schott – @schotts4everyone

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Edmond’s Honor Bourbon
• 1 oz. Passionfruit Honey 
• 1 oz. Super Lemon Juice
• 2 Dashes Chai Spiced Orange Bitters
• Expressed Lemon and Orange Zest

Preparation

1. In Double Rocks glass, measure and pour all ingredients into a small tin and fill with cracked ice.
2. Cap tin with Boston shaker and shake hard for 8-12 seconds.
3. Strain over 1×1 ice cubes.
4. Spray with food grade orange oil and lemon oil, 1x each.
5. Garnish with edible flower.