Drinks

Happy Hour: Ramblin’ Man

A bourbon cocktail built around local ingredients and homemade honey syrup

By Jenny Adams
Recipe by Susie Hoyt

October 5, 2012

Name of Drink: Ramblin’ Man
Bartender: Susie Hoyt
Name of Bar: The Silver Dollar in Louisville, KY
Favorite way to drink bourbon: The Sazerac

While the Silver Dollar, in Louisville, Kentucky, was designed after a Bakersfield, California, honky-tonk, it has warmly embraced its bluegrass home. The bar carries over 30 whiskey and bourbon varieties—all from Kentucky. Using local ingredients is a popular theme throughout the restaurant and bar, as is evident in their cocktail the Ramblin’ Man. “This cocktail came from an assignment from a local paper asking for a drink with the smallest carbon footprint,” says Beverage Director Susie Hoyt. “All of the ingredients are from a range of 53 miles from the bar, including with the Charter 101 and Peychaud’s coming from Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.”

Ingredients

- 2 oz. Charter 101 Bourbon
- ¼ oz. local honey syrup (recipe to follow)
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 5 drops of root beer or other aromatic bitters

Preparation

Combine all ingredients except the root beer bitters over ice. Stir and then strain into a coupe glass. Top with aromatic or root beer bitters.

Honey syrup: Stir local honey with hot water in a 4:1 ratio until incorporated.

Jenny Adams is a full-time freelance writer and photographer, most often penning pieces on great meals, stiff drinks, and the interesting characters she meets along the way. She lives in New Orleans, with a black cat, a spotted pup, and a Kiwi-born husband. Right now, she’s working on a (never-ending) horror novel, set in the French Quarter.