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Cocktail History
The Mystical One is a whiskey cocktail recipe that was created by Natasha David of Nitecap in New York City and included in Winter Drinks: 70 Essential Cold-Weather Cocktails by the editors of PUNCH. Despite its cryptic name, it’s essentially a whiskey sour riff that combines sage’s woodsy flavors with a slight cinnamon spice. The original recipe in the book called for lime juice instead of lemon, but for our variation of this recipe, we went with classic lemon to make it more palatable.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Bourbon: This is the base spirit. We used Buffalo Trace Bourbon (one of our favorites) because it has a distinct and sweeter taste of spices and brown sugar with notes of dark fruit, toffee, anise, and oak. For a mocktail version of this drink, try Spiritless Kentucky 74 in place of the bourbon.
Cinnamon Syrup: This is a sweetener made with cinnamon sticks, white sugar, gum Arabic powder, saline solution, and water. We made ours at home using Alex’s sous vide recipe.
Lemon Juice: This adds sour citrus flavors that balance out the other sweet and spiced ingredients. We always use fresh citrus juice because it’s less bitter than the bottled stuff and tastes better.
Egg White: This helps to soften the more intense flavors. It also adds body and a rich, silky smooth texture to the drink.
Sage Leaves: These are muddled in the drink and used as the garnish. They add sage’s savory aroma and flavor.
Tasting Notes
Our variation of The Mystical One features cool aromas of sage and bourbon’s sweet spice with a well-balanced flavor that combines bourbon, tart citrus, and a cinnamon zing, all with an herbal aftertaste that leaves the shaken-in sage and the cinnamon’s lingering spiciness on the tongue.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: After making a couple of changes to the specs including upping the amount of cinnamon syrup a bit, we both really enjoyed this version of The Mystical One and would make it again whenever we’re itching for a light and citrusy yet herbal spiced drink.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Bourbon and lime, which is what the original recipe uses, are a tough mix, and the amount of syrup the recipe called for certainly wasn’t enough to balance the citrus, so we tweaked the specs and ended up with a great drink! This version combines a whiskey sour format with cinnamon flavoring, all shaken with sage, and the result is a slightly herbal flavor with a hint of cinnamon spice, making for a tasty alternative to the classic.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐
“I agreed with Alex when we made this cocktail. The original specifications just didn’t taste quite right; the lime was much too sour and overpowered the other ingredients. Swapping out the lime for lemon did the trick though. It made it much more balanced and helped the sage to shine, which I already love in cocktails. Egg white aside, I would definitely drink The Mystical One again.”
Recipe
This cocktail recipe was adapted from Winter Drinks: 70 Essential Cold-Weather Cocktails by the editors of PUNCH.
Add cinnamon syrup and three sage leaves to a shaker and muddle gently.
Add bourbon, lemon juice, egg white, and ice.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Remove ice from shaker.
Dry shake for 5-10 more seconds to emulsify egg.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with remaining sage leaf.
Ingredients
Directions
Add cinnamon syrup and three sage leaves to a shaker and muddle gently.
Add bourbon, lemon juice, egg white, and ice.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Remove ice from shaker.
Dry shake for 5-10 more seconds to emulsify egg.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with remaining sage leaf.
Make It a Mocktail: Use Spiritless Kentucky 74 in place of the bourbon to try a booze-free version of this drink.
Tools & Glassware We Recommend
More Bourbon Cocktails
If you like this bourbon-based cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
Weathered Axe: A bourbon cocktail made with lemon juice, Combier L’Original Liqueur d’Orange, Cocchi Americano, ginger syrup, absinthe, and rosemary
Mountain Man: A bourbon cocktail made with lemon juice, peach liqueur, ginger syrup, maple syrup, and candied ginger
Boo Radley: A bourbon cocktail made with Cynar, cherry liqueur, a lemon peel, and an orange peel
Stone Fence: A bourbon cocktail made with apple cider, Angostura Aromatic bitters, and mint
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