Star Hill Date ‘N Honey Cocktail
It was love at first sight. The perfume and taste on my lips was irresistible. It was 1967 and I was legal marriage age, but I had yet to reach legal drinking age. I clearly remember my introduction to that beautiful amber elixir called bourbon and confess my transgression. It’s one that no Kentucky court would punish me for because only a Kentuckian can understand the bond with our native spirit.
Star Hill Date ‘N Honey Cocktail
The Maker’s Mark tagline was “It tastes expensive…and is”. That was true in the 60’s and today it still tastes expensive but it’s also a great value. You can reliably find it anywhere in the U.S.A. and it earned a permanent place on my bar years ago.
To celebrate my love affair with Maker’s, I decided to create a cocktail. I infused it with dates and honey, added a little of this and that which resulted in a drink so smooth I always want another. It’s garnished with a fresh blackberry. As a child, it was a treat to eat them right off the fence-row and I know there’s a blackberry bramble somewhere on Star Hill.
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
Infused with Dates and Honey
- 7–8 oz Maker’s Mark bourbon
- 3–4 pitted dates
- 1” X 3″ X 3/4″ honeycomb
- 1 oz antica carpano sweet vermouth
- 2 dashes peychaud’s bitters
- 1/2 oz honey syrup (if honeycomb isn’t available for the infusion)
- 1 Star Anise pod for ceremonial use – optional
Alternate Infusion
If you don’t have a piece of honeycomb available you can proceed using dates only
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to a Porthole Infuser – or – a mason jar
- Infuse for 72 hours and toggle (gently tilt) daily
- Decant and strain the infused bourbon and reserve
Using Date and Honey Infusion
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
- Add 2-1/2 oz infused bourbon, 1 oz sweet vermouth and 2 dashes of peychaud’s bitters
- Take the star anise pod and wave it over the cocktail shaker, then carefully return it to the jar
- Bruise it (shake vigorously) until well chilled
- Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass
- Garnish with a fresh blackberry
Using A Date Only Infusion
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
- Add 2 oz of the date infused bourbon and 1 oz of sweet vermouth
- Add 1/2 oz honey syrup and 2 dashes of peychauds bitters
- Take the star anise pod and wave it over the cocktail shaker, then carefully return it to the jar
- Shake vigorously until well chilled
- Double strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass
- Garnish with fresh blackberry
One more thing…
Full disclosure requires me to confess I am an official ambassador and I appreciate the complimentary bottle that shows up on my doorstep annually.
And just one more thing…
I’ll bet you want to know what’s up with the star anise pod. Shaped like a star I thought it was a nice homage to the Samuels family farm. It was part of the first trial infusion for this cocktail, but it was gol-darned awful. The whole truth is, it was so bad I had to ditch the entire batch of infused bourbon. The heavens wept.
And one last thing I promise…
They don’t really send me a bottle on my birthday, that’s illegal.