Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Grab Your Keys

Happy Friday once again. I’m back with yet another drink suggested to me by a friend. I’ve been sitting on this one for a bit actually. Initially, I wanted to save this one for the week of Halloween, given the name “Skeleton Key”, but I decided to move it up in the rotation because A) I have a better plan for Halloween this year, and B) I had all the ingredients readily at hand. I can’t think of a better excuse to make a tasty beverage. Can you?

Didn’t think so.

So, here is the Skeleton Key:

1 1/4 ounces Bourbon
3/4 ounce St. Germain
1/2 ounce Fresh lemon juice
3 to 5 ounces Ginger beer
8 dashes Angostura Bitters

Build the bourbon, liqueur, and lemon juice in a collins glass filled with ice. Top it off with ginger beer & Garnish with the Angostura Bitters. Serve with a straw.

Housekeeping notes before we begin. I used Old Overholt rye, in place of the bourbon, and St. Elder elderflower liqueur instead of St. Germain.

The nose starts off with an intense bitters aroma, for obvious reasons. One thing I will say about the bitters float is the slow permeation of the drink. No mixing is required, as the bitters slowly incorporate themselves, and gradually turn the color from a light opaque to a reddish hue. The other intense scent present immediately is the ginger beer. Again, not a surprise here. The topmost ingredient, and the mixer dominating the smell isn’t exactly a surprise here.

As it turns out, the same principle holds true in the sip as well. I get a strong ginger beer flavor initially. It completely dominates everything else. The other ingredients are merely background players. The lemon provides a touch of sour that mixes in nicely with the dryness of the ginger beer, but doesn’t come close to overpowering. They then give way to a bitters and ginger beer combination. The elderflower liqueur is just kinda there. I can get small hints of it underneath the main flavor profile, but I had to take a few sips to really pinpoint it. The rye is completely lost. That surprises me a bit actually. Given how much of a stronger flavor rye has compared to bourbon. I expected some of it to come through but in the end, I hardy detected any.

Maybe that’s the point though. You might not WANT to taste too much booze in this.  As it stands now, it is a very nice drink., and great for these late summer scorchers. However this is a dangerous drink. Because it isn’t very strong in its flavor, you can easily find yourself overdoing it. I can’t taste any alcohol in this apart from the bitters, and even that isn’t very strong. So go forth and enjoy one this long Labo(u)r weekend, just be sure to mind your intake.

(Banner image found here)