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r/cocktails•
SDION

Suggestions for barrel-aged cocktails?

So I just bought a small oak barrel (that picture is hideous) and I feel like making something more adventurous than a run-of-the-mill Negroni.

This may well be a complete failure so I'd love some advice/ideas. I'm thinking :

-Season barrel with Port, Sherry or something like a Pinot Noir or Shiraz.

-Remember The Maine; Rye and Vermouth with a spec of Cherry Heering and Absinthe.

-Second cocktail based on Gin/Strega.

Other cocktails to consider : Last Word, Paper Plane, Naked and Famous, Corpse Reviver (would this even work?), Coin Toss..

After that I'll just use the barrel as a container for an infinity rum.

Thoughts?

Posted Jul 19, 2018, 11:14 PM UTC · edited

37
FidoMcCokefiendPDX•

I think a barrel aged Vieux Carre is my favorite application here. If I had the 1L instead of the 5L barrel I'd love to try barely aging a Bijou. But at 5L, that's a steep commitment money wise to green chartreuse.

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SDIONOP•

Can't believe I hadn't thought about a Vieux Carré.

A bijou could be a fantastic idea too, perhaps as the first cocktail to really soak in that Port & Oak.

Will decide tomorrow!

2
xMCioffi1986x•

I will also suggest a Vieux Carre. I barreled that right after a Revolver so there are a lot of coffee/chocolate notes that bled through into the finished product. On its own though, it melds everything and rounds off some of the harsher flavors.

2
AMightyFortress•

A barrel aged negroni is not "run of the mill"! There's a good reason it's one of the standard cocktails that's barrel aged and it's because it's incredible.

I like your idea for the Remember the Maine. Would definitely produce a nice rich, syrupy drink. Another whiskey cocktail worth considering would be the Revolver.

For the "other cocktails to consider", all of those cocktails contain juice, which you shouldn't be putting in your barrel. You could just put the spirit components in the barrel and then mix with the juice afterwards, but you'll most likely lose some of the subtlety of the barrel doing that.

3
SDIONOP•

I didn't mean to "insult" the Negroni, it's just that I drink so many of them and I've had them aged (both rapid-aged in a n2o whipper and a traditional barrel) so I've been looking at something else.

I'll make a non-aged Revolver tonight to see how I like it.

2
buckemupp•

My bar did negronis, vieux carres, boulivardiers as go-tos but we had good successful with a couple off hand cocktails

Spice Rack - Tequila, Allspice Dram, Apricot Liqueur Randsom Canyon - Randsom Gin, Cardamaro, Maple bitters

I've been advised that citrus doesn't react well inside the barrel, but that was hearsay

1
nono_baddog•

Martinez ‘shows’ Barrel-aging beautifully.

1.5 oz Old Tom Gin 1.5 oz Sweet Vermouth (Carpano, Cocchi, etc) .25 oz Luxardo Maraschino 1 dash Angostura

You could play with the Gin here. I like Ransom Old Tom Gin in my Martinez, but you may wanna go with a non-barrel-aged variety because of the redundancy of sticking it all in a Barrel anyway. I personally think that the standard Barr Hill (not their Tom Cat) would work beautifully in this application.

The Bitters is an area to play with here as well. I had a Martinez with a locally-made Mulberry Bitters once and it was a fantastic, really memorable experience. So the sky’s the limit on that. You may also want to consider adding the Bitters after the fact, and not into the barrel.

1