Cocktailing with friends: On the Gold Rush, Lake Tahoe and couples trips
I went and got my snow bunny on last month, and I found a cocktail that was met with universal praise.
I forgot how much fun it is to make fresh drinks with friends.
Last month, our family linked up with a few more families for a “couples with newborns” retreat of sorts in South Lake Tahoe, California. What initially sounded like a terrible idea to me — because bringing together four babies to hang out with eight adults trying to adult things seems chaotic — turned out to serve as an opportunity to bond with other men and discuss fatherhood, parenting and the art of grilling meat.
Watching my wife chat it up with other women, sharing how everything in their life has changed, from their physical selves to the company they used to keep. And of course, watching four newborns do newborn shit, like organizing synchronizing crying sessions and refusing to pose for the camera while still serving looks for an impromptu photoshoot.
If you’ve never been to Lake Tahoe in January, well…it’s cold AF. Well, relatively cold if you come from places like Chicago and The District like two of the four couples did. However, for the other two couples (us) who were from Southern California, the thought of dealing with snow, ice and temperatures below freezing felt like punishment. So y’all want to go skiing and snowmobiling? I’ll pass.
I’d prefer to get my snow bunny on by staying indoors in the warm cabin and crafting some cocktails for the crew. (Truth be told, I kinda regret not getting out on the slopes, and I’ve vowed to give it a try the next time we’re vacationing at someone’s winter wonderland. I’ll keep you posted.)
I needed to make a drink that could be universally loved by everyone in the cabin and easy to make again and again.
Old fashioned? Might be too spirit-forward…
Paper plane? Might be too bitter and sour…
Whiskey smash? Might be too labor-intensive…
I stewed on this throughout the entire journey until we got to the California-Nevada border, and once I got a good view of those Sierra Nevada mountain peaks, it hit me.
I was going to make one of my wife’s favorite cocktails, something that I always delighted in consuming and crafting — The Gold Rush. (Scroll to the bottom if you just want to know how to make it.)
The trick is the honey syrup, and it’s usually the thing that will turn folks away from making The Gold Rush cocktail.
Honey Syrup is just honey and water. How you put the two ingredients together, and how much of each you use to do so, can obviously change what type of syrup you end up with. However, the bigger quest is how to actually fuse them together.
Unless you’re using thick artisanal honey or raw honey directly from a beekeeper or local produce store, you want to go use a three-to-one ratio of honey to water. If you’re using fancy honey, maybe go two-to-one on the ratio. (You’ll see some recipes state gone one-to-one on the ratio, but most honey you buy — especially store-bought — has about 20% water already in it, thus why you increase the ratio to 2:1 or 3:1)
Now, some will say that you can make this in a saucepan, but we don’t have time for all of that. Use the microwave.
Microwave 1/4 cup of water for 20-30 seconds, enough for the water to be warm to the touch. You don’t want boiling water. Combine 3/4 cup of honey into the warmed water and stir until dissolved and golden brown.
I use my baby’s unused milk containers to store the syrup, but a mason jar or plastic squeeze bottle is also effective. You want something that’s easily storable in a refrigerator while also easily pourable for cocktail making. Keep refrigerated when not in use.
Here’s the thing about The Gold Rush.
In many ways, it’s the perfect cocktail to bend the rules with. The basic cocktail provides sweetness, tartness and the punch of the bourbon.
I prefer using a strong rye whiskey like Rittenhouse to add a little spice and boldness to the cocktail.
Using a hot honey like Mike’s Hot Honey is another way to infuse spice.
Trading out the bourbon for a peaty scotch like Ardbeg provides smoke to battle the sweet.
And then there’s the inclusion of ginger into the honey syrup, which then allows you to make one of the best cocktails on earth, The Penicillin. We’ll get to that drink later in the year.
That flexibility of the drink, along with the perfect pairing of sweetness, tartness and spirit-forwardness of the drink…makes for a welcoming drink for all parties.
By the end of our couples trip, I had the other husbands making Gold Rushes for the wives, and the wives making Gold Rushes for the husbands. It was a beautiful sight.
In short — once you make the honey syrup, this drink will take you two minutes to make. And it’s so good, you’ll probably want to make another one a few minutes after that. Enjoy and Sip Mightily.
Recipe: The Gold Rush
Serve: Old fashioned glass
Garnish: Lemon wedge
Ingredients:
2 oz — Bourbon whiskey (Old Forester 100 or Elijah Craig Small Batch works well here, both cost under $30)
0.75 oz — Lemon Juice
0.75 oz — Honey Syrup
Make: Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice, shake and strain into an ice-filled glass. (I’d recommend using a big cube block or sphere)
Did you make this? Yes? Let us know what you think. Did you not like it? Oh. Please don’t let us know what you think. Thanks!