Unicorn Hunter

November is the golden month for bourbon hunters. Distilleries across the US release their special editions, and the Facebook whisky collector groups come alive – with minute-by-minute discussions of who scored a Pappy, or which store has in stock a George T Staggs – or which stores are gouging the Midwinter’s Night Dram or the pretty Hibiki Harmony bottle (the bottle is the only part that is special edition and it is also being sold at Costco for around $60, for reference).

But because both of us have 50+ hour work weeks, neither of us have the time to dedicate to bourbon-hunting beyond the weekends, which is typically not the time that local liquor stores receive incoming stock – but one can dream.

Enter the bourbon cocktail. Take a less expensive bourbon, mix it with some delicious chocolate-y ingredients, and you have a booze-forward, complex, and decadent chocolate winter-time sipper. Isn’t this better than some overhyped Pappy? Yes, yes it is.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Bourbon (mash with chocolate-malt preferred; I used 2Bar but Westland also works)
• 0.5 oz Orgeat
• 0.5 oz Chocolate-infused Vodka (I used Mud Puddle)
• 1 Dash Orange Bitters
• 2 Dashes Peychauds
• 1 Dash Chocolate Bitters

Glass

Old Fashioned

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass.
• Stir and strain into an old fashioned glass over a single big ice cube.
• Garnish with an orange slice.