Jackson Ranch Cocktail Recipes

Jackson Ranch was conceived of two years ago as almost exactly what it turned out to be. I wanted to brew a wild ale with rye that matched as closely as possible the color and look of long aged whisky. What I ended up doing was taking one barrel of that rye batch and blending it with one barrel of our normal red base, which had both been aging in neutral whisky barrels for 8 months, and blending them together before putting it back into two extremely fresh and special whisky barrels, a Single Barrel 9 Year High West Double Rye, and a Single Barrel 14 year Knob Creek. These rested for an additional 8 months before being packaged in clear 375ml whisky bottles un-carbonated.

The result is more interesting and more delicious than I could have ever hoped. You do get a lot of whisky flavor and aroma in both variants, but also a ton of oxidative sherry characteristics. Generally in a sour beer, long exposure to oxygen would produce unpleasant flavors of acetic acid (vinegar) and ethyl acetate (nail polish remover), but instead these aged gracefully more like a spirit. My theory is that since the beer was high in alcohol and dark in color that all of the brettanomyces and bacteria that would have created those flavors were completely dead in the beer, allowing it to transform and oxidize slowly and gracefully into pleasant flavors.

I recommend never putting these beers in the fridge. We believe they taste best when consumed at a cool room temperate (like whisky!). Pour a few ounces in a rocks glass, snifter, or Glencarin glass and savor slowly. You can also open a bottle and finish it over 2-3 days.

JACKSON RANCH COCKTAIL RECIPES

Blinker

3 oz High West JacksonRanch

.25 oz simple syrup

1 pinch salt

2 oz grapefruit juice

2 oz grenadine

Glassware: coupe

Garnish: grapefruit peel

Directions: Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe glass

Boulevardier

2.5 High West JacksonRanch

.5 oz Simple Syrup

1 oz firegold Blend 6 Grapefruit (substitute grapefruit juice or other bitter beer)

.5 oz psalm spite

2 dash orange bitters

Glassware: coupe or rocks

Garnish: orange peel

Directions: Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe glass

Daiquiri

2 oz High West Jackson

.5 oz Simple Syrup

.5 oz Lime juice

Glassware: Coupe

Garnish: lime wheel

Directions: Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe glass

Dark and Stormy

3 oz High West Jackson

.5 oz lime juice

2 oz Apatheia

2 oz ginger beer

Glassware: Highball Or Straight Sided Zombie

Garnish: Mint

Directions: Combine all ingredients except the ginger beer into the glass. Top with crushed ice and stir for 10 seconds. Top off with ginger beer and stir gently.

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