07 Apr Drink of the Week: Double Wigle Mai Tai Cocktail Recipe
Drink of the Week: Double Wigle Mai Tai
It was an exciting day at Roberts and June: Wigle delivery day. As people who always like trying something new in the spirits world, we love the way the folks at Wigle are constantly rolling out new ideas. Rather like a brewer, but in a way that’s rare for distillers, Wigle has seasonal releases. Sometimes they are created on a whim; sometimes they are the product of thorough research by students in the Masters of Food Studies program at a local university. Sometimes they return the next time the calendar rolls around; sometimes they’re around only for a single season. Always they’re an unconventional twist on a spirit, making use of a specific local product in a way that’s simultaneously new and deeply rooted in history or tradition.
The change of a season is a little like a birthday or Christmas; we can’t wait to open up the bottle and see what Wigle brought us. This time, it was Afterglow ginger whiskey. It was just what we wanted, even though we didn’t know it. Imagine a Scotch, but where you’d usually find smoke, you taste fire instead. That’s what Afterglow is like.
We usually try to share recipes that you can replicate, or at least come close to, even if you don’t have exactly the same bottles we do. But please indulge us as we celebrate the new season with a recipe specifically designed for this one, rather unique spirt. Or rather two rather unique spirits, because we’ll be mixing it with Landlocked Spiced, one of Wigle’s year-round offerings. It’s a honey spirit, kind of like rum but not quite. Why a honey-based almost-rum? Because sugar cane doesn’t grow around Pittsburgh, but honey does.
We thought these two warm, sweet, and spicy spirits would play well together in an inland version of the island classic, the Mai Tai.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Wigle’s Afterglow ginger whiskey
- 1 oz Wigle’s Landlocked Spiced honey spirit
- .5 oz lime juice
- .5 oz orange liqueur (we suggest Grand Marnier or Cointreau for this one, if you have it)
- .25 oz Amaro Montenegro (or substitute amaro)
- .25 oz simple syrup
- crystallized ginger, for garnish
Instructions
- Combine all liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake vigorously with ice for 15 seconds.
- Pour unstrained into an old fashioned glass, adding a little more ice if necessary.
- Garnish with crystallized ginger.
