Enjoying: Filey Bay Cocktails

On the 31st of July, we celebrated our Distillery Virtual Open Day with talks, masterclasses, distillery tours and most importantly, whisky! Over the course of the day, we were live across Facebook and YouTube with over 3000 people joining in throughout the day.

We were joined by Eddie Ludlow from The Whisky Lounge who was our host for the day alongside some very special guests.

Out of all the sessions, our Filey Bay cocktails were a huge hit! The cocktail masterclass was held by team members Amy and Morgan who walked through a few of their favourite cocktails using our core range of Filey Bay whisky.

As promised, here are the recipes for you to try for yourself and enjoy in the comfort of your own homes.

Amy’s Favourite – The Penicillin

This particular cocktail was kept a secret in New York for over a year. Rarely seen other than at a handful of related bars, the Penicillin was only served when the customer asked for the ‘bartenders choice’.

Created by Sam Ross in 2005 at the Milk and Honey bar in Manhattan where the cocktail is made to suit your taste. The Penicillin uses a combination of two whiskies and is typically made using a blended scotch, shaken together with ginger, lemon, honey and a smokey Islay whisky floated in the drink at the end.

It’s easy to see why it was given the name “Penicillin” as the flavours in this drink are innately comforting when feeling under the weather, either as a sweet or syrup for coughs and colds. For our Filey Bay edition, we knew these flavours would be a perfect pairing with our Filey Bay Peated Finish. Rather than two separate whiskies, Filey Bay Peated Finish adds creamy vanilla and caramel flavours for a perfect balance to the sweetness of this cocktail, with a delicate smokiness on the finish. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

A nub of fresh ginger, peeled
15ml honey syrup
30ml fresh lemon juice
60ml Filey Bay Peated Finish
Ice – To shake and serve
You will also need a cocktail shaker, a strainer and a rocks glass.

METHOD:

Honey Syrup:

Take equal amounts of honey, water and sugar, place in a small pan and heat until everything has dissolved, remove from the heat and let it cool. Pour into a jar and keep for future cocktails! 

The Cocktail:

• Place the ginger into the bottom of the mixing glass and crush to get the juices out. You can use anything that is sturdy enough to crush the ginger. Alternatively, grating the ginger has the same effect (just watch your fingers!)
• Add the rest of the ingredients to the ginger.
• Fill the other side of the shaker with ice, and shake until condensation appears on the shaker and the drink is chilled.
• Fill the rocks glass with ice, and pour the cocktail through a fine strainer to remove the flecks of ginger.
• Sit back and enjoy!

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Morgan’s Favourite – The New York Sour

It’s thought that the New York Sour was created around the 1880s in Chicago, however, the exact date is unknown. Variations of this cocktail are known as ‘Claret Snap’ ‘Continental Sour’ and ‘Southern Whisky sour’, it is thought that this is why the exact date of its creation is unknown.

With Bourbon being the choice of the American Drinker during these times, it’s easy to understand the popularity of these Bourbon sours. This cocktail is a great twist on the classic Whisky Sour with the addition of a Rioja red wine float, at the end which gives the drink a colourful pink layer. For our Filey Bay edition, we utilised our STR Finish, which was initially matured in ex-Bourbon casks before a finish in our STR red wine barriques.

INGREDIENTS: 

60ml Filey Bay STR Finish
30ml fresh lemon juice
20ml simple sugar syrup
1 egg white
20ml red wine, preferably Rioja
Ice – To shake and serve
A slice of lemon skin for garnish
You will also need a cocktail shaker, a strainer, and an ‘old fashioned’ glass.

METHOD:

Sugar syrup:

Take equal amounts of sugar and water and heat in a pan until dissolved. Let it cool, decant into a bottle or jar and keep for future drinks.

The Cocktail:

• In the shaker add the whisky, lemon juice, simple syrup and then the egg white. Fill with ice and shake hard until the glass gets cold and the drink is well chilled. If you are vegan then you can substitute the egg white for chickpea juice.
• Fill the ‘Old Fashioned’ glass with ice and strain the drink over this.
• Take then red wine and slowly pour over the back of a spoon so that the wine floats on top of the drink and there you have it, a Filey Bay New York Sour.
• Sit back and enjoy!

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We would love to see the cocktails you make using these recipes, and any other cocktails you have made using our Filey Bay Whisky. Tag us in your pictures when uploading to Facebook and Instagram. We hope you enjoy these as much as we have!  Don’t forget, if you didn’t get a chance to see the live event, our Open Day content is available to watch any time on our Facebook and Youtube. Here’s a link: https://bit.ly/SOY-Youtube

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Written by Brand Ambassador, Amy Teasdale

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