My Take on Seattle Whisky Bar's Earl Grey Old Fashioned

I've had quite a bit of fun experimenting with different spins on the Old Fashioned, including the Spiced Maple Old Fashioned that I previously posted, but one in particular, the Earl Grey Old Fashioned, has become my go-to cocktail, even more so than my tried-and-true bourbon Manhattans. Starting with a tea infused bourbon, and using lemon zest in place of the typical orange, it's got a nice balance of flavors that compliments bourbon well.       

The concept for this recipe, and the key ingredients, came from a visit I made to The Whisky Bar in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood back in February of this year.  Belltown is an upscale downtown neighborhood full of high rise condos and shops in addition to a some great bars and eateries. My companions and I visited three Belltown haunts that evening, and The Whisky Bar, along with Belltown Provisions across the street, really stood out as the highlights of the evening.

The bar back at The Whisky Bar reminds me of the bar back at Independent Ice here in Portland.  Bottles of just about every brand and nationality of whiskey (or whisky, if you like) that you can imagine stretch from one end of the room to the other.  If there is something you've always wanted to try, and are willing to pay the price of a pour, chances are you'll find it there.  I started with a flight of Seattle craft whiskies that included Fremont Mischief Rye, Bainbridge, Copperworks, and Oola Cask Strength before moving on to a cocktail. 

A version of the Earl Grey Old Fashioned was one of the cocktails on their menu, and after sampling a small taste of the one my Seattle Whiskey Mafia friend Milena had ordered, I ended up getting one myself and asking the bartender how it was made.  Aside form the obvious base ingredient of tea infused bourbon, it was from him that I learned to include both lemon bitters and Angostura bitters in the recipe. Needless to say, I liked it enough that I started experimenting with tea infused bourbon and lemon bitters shortly after I got back to Maine.  

If you get a chance to visit Seattle, definitely check out The Whisky Bar, but don't enjoy it so much that you can't also visit Belltown Provisions, which is more of a craft cocktail establishment with a few really interesting whiskey-based cocktails on the menu.

Making the Earl Grey Old Fashioned

I make my version of the Earl Grey Old Fashioned with Jim Beam White Label infused with Twinning's Earl Grey tea. Because I make this cocktail often, I use a quart milk bottle full to the shoulders and two tea bags and let the tea steep into the bourbon for about two and a half hours before decanting into a clean 750 ML bottle for use mixing drinks. If you want to smart small (I did), you can use a pint Mason jar and a single tea bag for about the same amount of time.

This video shows the process from start to finish, including the infusion:

Once the infusion is complete, mixing the cocktail itself is pretty easy.  As you can see from some of the photos in this post, I started out making it with smoked sugar cubes, but have moved on to using Agave syrup almost exclusively, like I do in the video.  The ingredients are:

• 2 1/2 ounces Earl Grey infused bourbon.
• Quarter-sized dollop of Agave syrup in the bottom of your rocks glass
• 2 dashes lemon bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• lemon twist
• Ice (I like to use a jumbo cube)

Just stir all of the ingredients together in your rocks glass, and then add ice. Definitely take the time to get some of that lemon flavor on the rim of your glass before you toss the twist into your drink, sometimes people look at me funny when I do it, but it makes a difference. 

This has truly become a go-to for me, and I make it for bourbon loving guests whenever they come to visit.  As far as I know, everyone has enjoyed it.  I've even made it out while cruising the lake on a pontoon boat with Dan.

I know the tea infusion is probably a bit intimidating, but grab yourself a Mason jar and a tea bag and give a pint a try.  You won't be disappointed!