Bourbon Squash | 44 down 231 to go

When you’re getting ready to go out for the evening – you know, showering, primping, preening, running an iron (or a few squirts of wrinkle releaser) over your clothes, getting dressed – it always helps to have a cocktail in hand as you do it.  And while it was not my intention to make these the “hull entries” of the blog, only a page away from the Appetizer was the Bourbon Squash.  Deliciousness in a pint glass.

To be sure, one of the qualities that makes this such an all-around experience is the fact that it engages all the senses, but especially that of hearing in an unusual way.  Like some of its cousins, such as the Mint Julep, Mojito, Old Fashioned, the Squash is made directly in the glass.  The familiar, wet shlaaka- shlaaka- shlaaka of the shaker maraca is replaced by the sound of the ice shaver.  But even better, after packing the ice in the glass over the juice, syrup and hulls, you pour the bourbon over the ice.  As the liquor seeps through, the ice melts and settles making a sound that might best be described as the cocktail version of Snap, Crackle & Pop.  Yet it’s a wholly different sound.  Between the scent of the wafting citrus oils, the vibrant visuals of a divided glass with orange & yellow hulls in the lower half and the icy gravel in the upper half, then this subtle and unexpected music, this cocktail is a synesthesiac sensation.

As much as I disdain straws, definitely use one here, at least to start.  The layering makes for two distinct taste sensations with the sweet acids below and the smoky smoothness above.   The straw lets you mix the bourbon slushy into the liquid below.  As the ice melts and the flavors blend, this is one of those cocktails that’s different with every sip. If only we had discovered this one in the summer.  To June 2012!

Bourbon Squash
2 ½ oz. bourbon
1 oz. orange juice
½ oz. lemon juice
1 t. simple syrup
Squeeze the juices into a pint glass, dropping the hulls in too.  Pack glass with shaved ice.  Pour bourbon over the ice and stir.  Serve with cocktail straw.

UPDATE: Hands down, this was the favorite sipper of the summer.  We've turned many a friend on to this simple-yet-dramatic cocktail.  If you have not tried it yet, hurry, hurry, hurry.  Looking at the ingredients it seems rather wintery with the citrus & bourbon.  But it is summer through and through -- light on the palate, different with every sip, and served in a pint glass.  If you make this for friends, make it a surprise.  Don't tell them what you're making them and ask them to trust you.  The Wow! factor when served intrigues even the non-bourbon drinker.  Several friends have said to me, "I don't like bourbon, but I really like this!"  Such was the case this Labor Day weekend when we spent all Monday in S. & D.'s pool tossing back these bad boys.  D. is now a bourbon drinker...at least in it's Squash form!