Making Cocktails with Wildly Expensive Spirits | Cocktail Limelight

Have you ever wanted to make a cocktail with a $300 bottle of whisky? Or stir an Old-Fashioned with ultra-premium spirits? Well if so, stay tuned, because in this episode we push the limits on what spirits you can afford to use in a craft cocktail.
TODAY'S RECIPES:
CHET BAKER
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Teaspoon Honey Syrup
2 teaspoons Sweet Vermouth
2 parts Ron Zacapa XO
METHOD: Stir
GLASSWARE: Double Old-Fashioned
GARNISH: Orange Twist
Oaxaca Old Fashioned
2 dashes New Orleans Bitters
1/4 part Agave Syrup
1/2 part Mezcal
2 parts Don Julio 1942
METHOD: Stir
GLASSWARE: Double Old-Fashioned
GARNISH: Grapefruit Twist
Rob Roy Variation
2 dashes Aromatic Bitters
1/4 part Mr Black Amaro
3/4 part Sweet Vermouth
2 parts Johnnie Walker Blue Label
METHOD: Stir
GLASSWARE: Nick & Nora
GARNISH: 3 Cherries
Tune in & learn how to make cocktails from acclaimed bartender & host of the award-winning Bartender at Large podcast, Erick Castro. Every episode features time tested recipes that have proven to be delicious, as well as a bit of history and humor on the side.
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[@OldFashionedWays]

really enjoyed watching this. need to try these. cheers.

[@JSkante]

That's a big guy! Lmao. I love this concept mi hermano

[@BartenderAtLarge]

Big thanks! What should we do next???

[@andresvillarreal5194]

I really enjoyed the video. That said I'd more likely make these cocktails at home than dish out $90 for a cocktail. The 1942 retails about $149 at Vons..

[@BartenderAtLarge]

The holidays are the best time to stock your homebar because there are so many great deals out there right now. So don't delay!

[@ItsMe-fs4df]

18:39 that looks like the sickest neck tie 🤣 I'm an at home bartender, and a collector... So our bottle collection heads more to the higher bracket and I'm more than happy to chuck things into a cocktail. I would love to find a place with premium drinks like this to try out (it's a bit disappointing when you go out and you know you can make it better at home lol). I've got that Ron Zacapa XO (yay duty free) so I see a Chet Baker in my near future

[@BartenderAtLarge]

An expensive necktie too, bro!!

[@rebekahdodds426]

Need to know where that amazing silver nail polish is from!!

[@viperocco]

DAmn, homie is tall

[@leonidaschau]

love this episode! thought you were gonna flame the garnish on that Oaxaca old fashioned to bring that cost up even more! lol

[@BartenderAtLarge]

"Sorry, sir, but a flamed orange twist is a two dollar upcharge! LOL

[@garyhovey9305]

Yes you’re out of your mind but I’m all in on this idea! My last old fashioned was made with Calumet 16 🥃 Life is too short to drink bad booze

[@BartenderAtLarge]

I am glad that you are enjoying this, because we are definitely going to be doing another episode on the topic soon.

[@bob___]

This is the perfect subject for the guy who invented the Piña Verde.

[@leonardschumann9212]

It's weird that chartreuse costs so much in the us. It's about 35€ in germany so on the same level as most vs cognacs or basic mezcals. But germany has a relatively low liquor tax. As just export costs wouldn't justify the price increase.

[@BartenderAtLarge]

But to be fair, when I came up with the drink Green Chartreuse was still $28 for a 750ml wholesale.

[@snowrs1]

I have done this with PVW in an old fashioned, it really is just a flex. There is a point where they improve over well liquor, but at a point the nuances that are in the liquor are over shadowed in the overall mix of the cocktail.At a bar I understand their place but from just a cocktail experience the juice is not necessarily worth the squeeze.

[@BartenderAtLarge]

Sometimes you gotta treat yo self, baby!

[@asmarsh111]

Love it, I know you all didn't do shaken but I've made a few last words with chartreuse vep and nolets and was really a different beast than the classic where the woodnotes from the aged chartreuse come out with some vanilla notes in the cocktail.

[@BartenderAtLarge]

How about a Piña Verde with VEP? Now that is living, baby!

[@GeeWhizbang]

OK...bar economics aside (because yes there's a sucker, errr, valued high end customer born every day) is making a cocktail with a $75+ bottle of any base spirit equivalent to ordering an exquisitely prepared Wagyu steak and smothering it in Heinz 57 ketchup?

[@GA-xc9ub]

I might be closer to a mushroom sauce on a Wagyu? Where a purist could say you are wasting the quality of the core spirit/meat by combining it with something else - and by adding anything you have diminished the focal premium item. Unless you dump an ounce of sour mix into a glass of 18 year old bourbon - THAT's what I'd call ketchup on a prime steak.

[@dreamwarden]

Problem is that there are smaller companies making spirits just as good and even better than the ones used here at lower or comparable price points.

[@BartenderAtLarge]

What are some of your favorites? We are always looking for new spirits to try.