Featured Cocktail: the old Silk Stockings

A delicious bourbon cocktail with a sorted past. 

For those of you who have ever searched your local bar or liquor store for a spirit you read about in a magazine, you know that finding specialty products is not always easy.  This is especially true in Southeast Wisconsin, where many specialty spirits are not even brought in to the area.

Over the years, some of the ingredients used in our cocktails would become unavailable.  During these times, we would either change the recipe or retire the recipe.  With the resurgence of classic cocktails, we are finding that specialty spirits are once again becoming available.  This is great news for us!

We had a recent success story with one of our depression era cocktails, the Silk Stockings.  Sometime in the past, one of the primary ingredients became unavailable.  The liquor, called Mandarine Napoleon, is a mandarine based liquor that has a mellow, almost herbal taste.  When this spirit became unavailable, the mixologists at Bryant's substituted a mellon based liquor. While this may seem odd, both offered a sweet, warm taste that kept the Silk Stockings cocktail balanced with its other ingredients, including bourbon.

After some searching, we found that Mandarine is once again easily available.  We acquired a bottle and eagerly mixed a silk stockings the old fashioned way.  It was delicious.   The mandarine melds seamlessly with the bourbon, creating a very unique and drinkable cocktail.  

We now have the pleasure of offering both Silk Stockings cocktails.  The old silk stockings, made with mandarine for a smooth, mandarine taste and the new silk stockings, made with melon liquor for slightly sweeter taste.  

The best part?  Both cocktails are half priced during our Old Fashion Cocktail Hour, from 5-9 PM, Tuesday through Friday.