Maker's Mark Hurricane Cocktail to Celebrate Besh Big Easy: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Lock & Key

by Sydney "Brown Nose" Blanchard

Congrats to Chef John Besh! 

On October 9 and 10 in Kentucky, Maker's Mark Distillery is honoring the New Orleans native with a Maker's Mark TasteMaker Award and celebrating the release of his fourth cookbook, Besh Big Easy! It's always great to see Louisiana chefs recognized across the country.

The cover of Chef John Besh's new cookbook, Besh Big Easy

Since we can't be there to participate in the festivities in person, we'll be enjoying this Maker's Mark Hurricane in the privacy of our own office. 

Cheers to Chef John Besh and his latest venture, Besh Big Easy!

Maker's Mark Hurricane

Maker's Mark Hurricane cocktail

2 parts Maker's Mark Bourbon

2 parts passion fruit juice

1 part fresh orange juice

1 part fresh lime juice

1 part real pomegranate grenadine

1 orange slice, for garnish

1 maraschino cherry, for garnish

Combine bourbon, passion fruit syrup, citrus juices and grenadine. Shake and strain into an old-fashioned or high-ball over crushed ice. Garnish with orange slice and cherry. 

Whiskey Cane and Flight School: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Lock & Key

Whiskeycane at Lock & Key

Sometimes I need a delicious cocktail to get me through the day. While Whisk(e)y Wednesday usually features various worldly whiskies by themselves, we sometimes can't resist featuring a whiskey based cocktail that'll make your mouth water. Take, for example, the Whiskeycane at Lock & Key. A play on the famous New Orleans Hurricane, the Whiskeycane uses bourbon and rye in addition to rum with organic passion-pear juice, muddled orange, lime, and cherries, and Luxardo cherry juice. The refreshing cocktail is not overly sweet. The natural fruit sugars shine but it is cut by the bourbon and citrus acidity for present a pleasant beverage. Seriously, try one.

Also of note, tonight at Lock & Key is their first ever Flight School. The idea of Flight School is to do a monthly class featuring different flights of whiskey in an educational and intoxicating session. Three whiskies, a rye, a bourbon, and a Scotch will be poured tonight for only $22. The event goes from 6:30 to 8 PM.

Lock & Key's Whiskeycane

Whisk(e)y Wednesday tasting at Lock & Key while recording the Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket

LA1 at Lock & Key

A few weeks ago we recorded an episode of the Bite and Booze Radio Show while tasting whiskey and whisky for Whisk(e)y Wednesday segments on the blog. Talk about multi-tasking!

Around the table we had Arthur Lauck, co-owner of the Lock & Key Whiskey Bar, Charles Pierce, the producer and host of the Me and My Big Mouth Radio Show and Podcast, and Jeremy Spikes for the site formerly known as whisky bomb dot com.

We were treated with an excellent collection of booze capped with a cocktail. We began with the Knob Creek Rye, then moved on to the Green Spot Irish Whiskey followed with the Bruichladdich Rocks Scotch. To cap it all off we had a taste of the Whiskey Cane... and whiskey based Hurricane that is a must-try!

Take a listen to the show as we talk whiskey, drink whiskey, and enjoy whiskey at the Lock & Key Whiskey Bar!


Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by the Lock & Key Whiskey Bar. Lock & Key has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys available for on premise consumption. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote from Bite and Booze, Arthur Lauck from Lock & Key, Charlies Pierce, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y (though not undrinkable) while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 80 is rather extraordinary and anything above 90 is world class.

The Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket airs on Saturdays at 5 PM and replays Sundays at 8 PM on Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The show is hosted by Jay Ducote and won a Taste Award in January 2014 as the best food or drink based radio broadcast in the country. The producer of the show is Chris Courtney at Guaranty Broadcasting and the field producer is Charles Pierce from the Me and My Big Mouth Show. It is also available on iTunes. The show's sponsors include Calandro's Supermarket, Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce, Visit Baton Rouge, Portico Restaurant and Bar, Lock & Key Whiskey Bar, Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning, Mason's Grill, Donner-Peltier Distillers (Rougaroux Rums and Oryza Vodka and Gin), Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, Juban's Restaurant, the Tin Roof Brewing Company, the Louisiana Culinary Institute and Triumph Kitchen.

Hurricane Preparedness from Bite and Booze

With Isaac coming quickly, I wanted to make sure to reinforce the essential hurricane preparedness tactics for those of you who might be trying to bunker down during and after the storm.  Please follow these steps if you are not evacuating.  Obviously, if you are in the evacuation zone, I don't recommend following this.  Turn your computer off and get the heck out.

1) Beer

Beer is essential to survive any hurricane.  For centuries it was safer to drink than water, and will be again during a hurricane.  Back in the day, beers like Guinness were seen as being extremely healthy as they provided essential nutrients.  Grab a six pack of something good because you don't want to be drinking bad beer during the hurricane.  I've got a mixed six pack of Left Hand Milk Stout and Milk Stout Nitro in the fridge!

2) Gas and Ice

If you're lucky enough to have a generator, you'll need extra gas for it as well.  That's a nice thing to have.  Even if you aren't powering a window unit on gasoline, having some extra for your car can't hurt.  Also, if your power goes out your refrigerator will stop working.  Better have some ice on hand for that beer!

3) More Beer

Since you got an ice chest with some ice, you might as well get some more beer.  There's no reason to let the ice go to waste.  Again grab something tasty that you can drink a lot of... you may be hunkered down for a while.  I picked up a couple flats of locally brewed Tin Roof Perfect Tin Amber Ale.  And I already drank a couple.  Oops.

4) Whiskey

You'll be glad to have some whiskey during a hurricane as well.  If you don't have a fridge and all your ice melts, you probably won't want to drink hot beer.  However, if you have a decent whiskey collection, you can always just pour a glass and drink it neat.  Whiskey also helps you forget that it's storming much faster.  Fortunately for me, I have a pretty decent stash already.

5) Charcoal

When there's no electricity in your house and your freezer isn't running, the only logical thing to do with everything that's thawing is to cook it before it spoils.  But you can't cook inside, so fire up the grill and have a party.  I have about 60 pounds of Kingsford at the house.  That'll run my Big Green Egg for several days!

6) A Whole Pig

While you're at it... you might as well pull that whole wild piglet out of the freezer and let it thaw faster.  You've already been drinking and now you have the coals lit.  The pig will feed all the people you have coming over.  Plus, what's better in a post-hurricane environment than to feast on a little cochon de lait?!

7) Screw It... Kegs of Beer

Now you're having a good old hurricane party and grilling for the neighborhood while cooking a suckling pig and cleaning out everyone's freezers... you'll need more beer!  Good thing you thought ahead and bought a couple kegs! I prefer drinking local yet again.  A keg of Tin Roof Bandit Blonde and Parish Canebrake ought to do the trick!
  

Seriously though, be safe out there.  Best of luck to everyone with Isaac.