Well, I don’t care what the calendar says but it’s officially winter now. The East coast got hit with a sizeable winter storm Wednesday night, and Boston got just about a foot of snow. So I spent most of my Thursday afternoon shoveling my car out. Thankfully, I had two bits of motivation to keep me going. One was the flask of bourbon I kept in my pocket. But the other one, was an aptly named cocktail I found in a New York Times article describing what a “Nor’easter” was.

After reading that  article in between weather.gov refreshes on Wednesday, I made a pre-snow trip to the liquor store to make sure I had the appropriate ingredients to make sure I had what I needed in order to make this drink. I guessed (correctly so) that I would want a nice cocktail after all of that hard work. After I finished up outside I mixed up a Nor’easter for myself:

1 ounce lime juice, or more to taste
4 ounces bourbon
1 ounce maple syrup, or to taste
2 ounces, approximately, cold ginger beer
Lime slice

Combine lime juice, bourbon and syrup to taste in a small pitcher or cocktail shaker. If possible, let mixture chill in refrigerator or freezer until very cold.
Pour over ice in a rocks glass and top with ginger beer. Depending on the sweetness of the ginger beer, you may want to add a little more lime juice. Garnish with a lime slice.

The nose is mostly lime, with a hint of ginger, thanks to the garnish and the ginger beer topper. Upon a few more whiffs, I do start to detect some of the maple syrup hiding beneath the other aromas.

Taking a sip, my first thought is how fantastic this is. What stands out almost immediately is just how light this is for a winter drink, which was a little surprising to me. While winter is normally dominated by heavier beers and stronger drinks, this is a nice change of pace.

Ginger beer and lime have forever been a good combination, and their partnership is on full display here. The ginger beer topper adds a nice bubbly mouth feel, with the natural flavors enhanced with the citric acid from the lime. It also does the bulk of the work lightening the overall drink’s mouth feel.

The maple syrup comes through about midway through the sip. Thankfully, the syrup comes through as just the right amount of sweet but not too sweet, thanks to the aforementioned ginger beer/lime combination.  It also adds a pleasant depth of flavor as well. There is a bit of a downside though, it does start to separate if not consumed fast enough. However I don’t foresee that being a huge issue, given how delicious this drink is.

The bourbon flavor seems to be relegated to a supporting actor. I do get a few vanilla-ish notes from it as I sip it down, but it never takes any sort of leading role here. So if you or someone you know isn’t a bourbon fan, this would be a good introductory cocktail to show them that bourbon is in fact delicious.

Because the flavors aren’t so strong, this is an easy drinker. It is very well balanced, and can be described as dangerously delicious. Especially if you follow the Times’ recommendation for proportions. I mean I like a strong drink and all, but 4 ounces is a little excessive. especially since all the ingredients nearly fill up my rocks glass before I even add the ginger beer. Though to be fair, I did use a single oversize cube, so that could be the root cause of the volume issue. But my original point still stands. Cut this one in half, it is still just as good.

(Banner image found here)