The Butter-Popcorn Sour

Picture in courtesy of
http://theyounggentlemensguide.com

Yes - I know, posts were scarce last couple of weeks.  The opening of Skylite crawls closer and closer and there is so much to consider and to plan for.

The content of the new beverage menu of Skylite is in the late development stage, but then there are also so many further details like promotions, the opening night, manning, the food concept and so on.

The Rush menu, I have posted here, is close to implementation and we have tried most drinks. The Butter-Popcorn Sour was though one of the drinks, which I have delayed, due to a busy schedule.

However I did some popcorn myself at home a couple of days ago [only for this recipe - I usually despise popcorn] - it is a bit easier in my home kitchen to cook things up...
Then we infused a bottle of Maker's Mark with it. Why Maker's Mark you might ask? Well, Maker's is a rather light [wheated] bourbon - though still has a formidable 45% abv.
After one day, the popcorn did its work and could be strained out and discarded. Then I have melted butter - I did the mistake to make a nut butter [you let it brown a bit] - it doesn't taste bad - but it just taste less off butter-popcorn. Hence next time I will use only normal clarified butter.

The butter get into the bourbon [use a plastic container for it - you will never get the fat out of your whiskey bottle again...] and infuses for another day [a couple of hours would also do].

You put the butter-bourbon into the freezer until the fat solidifies - after that you just have to strain it and discard the fat [unless you would like to use the remaining bourbon butter].

The bourbon taste pretty much like popcorn [with a little bit too strong hint of nutty butter]. Overall it is really smooth and has a certain funk.

However the magic happens, if you are preparing a Sour from this infused bourbon.

Butter-Popccorn Sour

5 cl Popcorn & butter infused Bourbon
2 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice
1.5 cl rich syrup
optional 1/3 egg white

Shake this very hard and strain it onto a chilled whiskey tumbler filled with ice cubes.

Funny thing is, that the popcorn taste becomes much stronger in the sour, as it is in the straight up bourbon. It is smooth, slightly buttery and very popcorn'y. Whimsical, complex enough, taste great!

Again - the nutty butter, was a bit distracting, hence I will change the recipe in this way. But pretty good for the first try; I didn't really knew the outcome of this drink, as combining something like popcorn with lemon is always a gamble - but here it just paid off.

I would even say, that it was better than my previous bacon bourbon cocktails.

This again proofs one thing:

Everything is better with butter!