Sunday, June 14, 2009

The search for interesting whisk(e)y cocktails begins with Lynchburg Lemonade

We're on a mission this summer to try to find some interesting and different whisk(e)y cocktails. We will try some old favourites as well as hopefully managing to find some new ones. Whisk(e)y is beginning to be marketed internationally as a more flexible cocktail ingredient and we are keen to see what is coming out of this trend.

Starting with an old favourite, and a regular on the cocktail list of many bars worldwide - Lynchburg Lemonade. It is named after Lynchburg, a city in the American state of Tennessee, home of the Jack Daniel's distillery.

In Spring 2006, the drink's creator, Tony Mason, filed a lawsuit in the Madison County Circuit Court against Jack Daniel's Distillery claiming, among other things, "that the defendants had misappropriated his formula, or recipe, for a beverage known as Lynchburg Lemonade". He sought compensatory and punitive damages of $13,276,335. After approximately four days of testimony, the jury found in his favour, however, the trial court refused to give Mason's requested compensation leaving him instead to walk away with the lesser amount of one dollar.

Lynchburg Lemonade
1 part Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
1 part triple sec
1 part sours mix
squeeze of lime juice

Shake all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a glass over fresh ice, top with lemonade then garnish with a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry.

This is quite a sweet cocktail and the whiskey is by no means over powering. It would be a good cocktail to get a non-whiskey fan interested and really does suit a lovely sunny summery day.

1 comment:

Cocktails at 80 said...

I very much like your approach - practical information about whiskey for the rest of us, and those who don't or can't spend $75 on a 750 of single malt. Me: I'm a big fan of Bourbon & Rye whiskey