Weeski

Weeski is a David Wondrich original cocktail that comes with an unusual story. The story is that Wondrich wanted to make Manhattans for some friends but, after looking at his bar supplies, discovered that all he had were Irish whiskey and Lillet. So, he used those two ingredients to create this cocktail. I don’t know about you, but while I have come to the bar to discover that I’m out of common ingredients, I have never been unexpectedly out of rye whisky. When I run low on things, its usually less common spirits and liqueurs that don’t get used as often. That being said, this is a delicious cocktail and I would think just as highly of it if Wondrich said it came to him in a dream.

The cocktail is made with Irish whiskey, Lillet Blanc and Cointreau, with a couple of dashes of orange bitters. It has a solid base from the whiskey, but wonderfully fruity and floral top notes from the other ingredients. The cocktail is dry, but it feels somewhat sweet. As a result, I particularly like this cocktail as an afternoon drink and serve it up on a regular basis when I have a bottle of Lillet in the fridge. I used Jameson for the whiskey in this cocktail, but other Irish whiskeys – including others in the Jameson family that have more age on them – will bring some more interesting wood and vanilla notes to the drink if you want to play around with them.

Method: Stir
Glassware: Coupe

Ingredients:
2 oz. Irish Whisky
1 oz. Lillet Blanc
3/4 oz. Cointreau
2 dashes Orange Bitters

Fill a coupe ice and water to chill. Fill a mixing glass with ice and add all of the ingredients. Stir until well-chilled, about 30 seconds, then dump the ice out of your coupe and strain the cocktail into the chilled glass. No garnish.