It’s the Lovely Assistant here: apologies but I didn’t have the time yesterday to give the Heart of Mystic the attention it deserved. I’m hoping I’ll fix that this weekend. As a mea culpa, here’s one of my favorite cocktail recipes. It’s one much beloved by South Floridian bikers and jacket aficionados.

- 2 parts barrel proof bourbon (I like Makers Cask Strength here)
- 1 part grapefruit juice
- 1 part simple syrup
- 1 egg white
- Approximately 4 dashes of Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients except bitters in shaker, shake dry and violently. Add ice to shaker, shake violently. Strain, serve up in a coupe glass. Add bitters to foam, stir gently with knife point to mix into foam. Garnish with twist of grapefruit peel.

The perfect 305 Sour.

This is a definitively softer, more subtle whiskey sour versus the traditional lemon-featuring recipe, which makes it an ideal choice for either after-dinner duty or warmer days. While any barrel proof bourbon can work here, I really love Makers Mark Cask Strength for two reasons: 1) the wheated flavor profile really plays into the softer, layered approach, and 2) back in the Bourbon Dark Ages of the 1980’s into the early 90’s, Makers Mark still did a heavy business on Miami Beach as a go-to house and mixing bourbon for the South Beach clubs. It was in fact this old business that helped slowly introduce bourbon to a new generation prior to the modern boom times.

I love this one, and I think you will too.