Some of you might have heard of the bourbon cocktail called The Revolver with its warm accents of bitter coffee and citrus aromas. It flies under the radar and is pretty rare to find on a cocktail menu but I can tell you with certainty that this cocktail deserves to be the Top Gun. It’s simple, it’s delicious and has a great name. Not to mention “the magic orange flame” where the bartender swiftly lights an orange peel on fire creating a spark that releases a bit of an orange scented smoke and usually catches people off guard in a dark lounge. What I love about it, is that it has the ability to be great regardless of specific ingredients. No matter what style of bourbon, type of coffee liquor, size of ice cube or style of glass, it is still fantastic. It was created back in the 2000’s during the whole mixology craze by a bartender named Jan Santor who was looking to make something with ingredients that were available anywhere and that anyone can make.
The first time I tasted a version of this was in Savannah where they rimmed the glass in coffee grinds and it was a little more coffee forward. I really enjoyed that drink. I mean I thought about it every Friday when my husband asked me what cocktail we should make during our usual Friday after work “bourbon 30” to close out the week. Until one day I decided to take a stab at creating my own version of this cocktail with the 1776 James E Pepper single barrel rye, Madagascar vanilla bean simple syrup and smoking the cocktail at the finish. No need to reload, this was a home run! My initial reaction was how well balanced it was with its sweet, smoky, bitter and aromatic notes. It was better than that last cocktail I had tried and I immediately replaced my desired cocktail of choice with this one… The Smoking Gun. You might think the orange and coffee are a strange mix but bourbon makes the introductions and these two harmonize perfectly. The smoke adds another level of aromas that make you think this just belongs together. Once you make this cocktail, you may not be able to control yourself from blowing off the smoke and saying “Say hello to my little friend”.
Recipe provided by Chef Christy Robinson-Costello, Chef + Publisher of Eat.Local.Together
To view recipe go to The Smoking Gun Recipe – Eat.Local.Together (eatlocaltogether.com)
