Pumpkin-mania is here folks. Lattes, beer, ice cream, pie – you name it. If it’s Autumn, it’s pumpkin.
A lot of people make fun of the pumpkin craze, but I for one welcome our new pumpkin overlords. Pumpkin and its other squash-kin are delicious, vibrant, versatile, and cheap. They are great in a wide array of sweet and savory dishes and the perfect antidote to cold-weather gloom.
However, even though pumpkin dominates Autumn like no other seasonal vegetable and pairs great with all things sweet and creamy, there is a surprising lack of pumpkin cocktails.
Enter the Pumpkin Bourbon Flip.
It’s a classy, seasonal, and ever-so-sweet drink that really highlights the flavor of everybody’s favorite fall gourd. The key is the homemade bourbon infusion, which actually tastes like pumpkin – not just ‘pumpkin spices’ like nutmeg and clove. Letting the pumpkin puree soak in the bourbon gives the final concoction an earthiness and depth you could never get from a pumpkin syrup or a prepackaged alcohol.
While I like the flip, which has a lovely look and texture thanks to the egg white, there plenty other ways you could use this pumpkin bourbon. Have an idea for another cocktail? Send it my way!
Pumpkin Bourbon Flip
Pumpkin Bourbon Ingredients (yields about 12 oz.)
- 1/2 a fifth of bourbon, about 13 oz.
- 6 oz. of pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 12 whole cloves
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground nutmeg
Cocktail ingredients
- 4 oz. of pumpkin bourbon
- 1 oz light cream (or milk)
- 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
- 1 egg white
Instructions
- Combine all the pumpkin bourbon ingredients together in a wide-mouth bottle or mason jar. Seal tightly and shake vigorously to mix thoroughly. Let the mixture sit for at least a week, shaking every few days to re-mix the ingredients (the pumpkin puree will settle to the bottom).
- Once the bourbon has been properly infused, strain the pumpkin and spices out using a french press, coffee filter, or colander. You may need to strain it twice to get the majority of the solids out. Return the bourbon to your bottle or mason jar and store (will keep for several weeks).
- To prepare the cocktail, add the pumpkin bourbon, cream, sugar, and egg to a cocktail shaker with a handful of ice. Shake for 5 to 10 seconds, until the metal becomes uncomfortably cold to the touch. Strain the cocktail out into a martini or coupe glass and garnish with a dash of ground nutmeg.
Rosemary Renaissance 