Kick Drum Heart – Wilderness Trail Wheated

We stay a little bit longer on the topic of American Whiskey. In this case, I am presenting a ‘wheated’ bourbon to you. What better way of using it in a cocktail than to combine it with some stone fruit flavours and make a Cameron’s Kick?!

Wilderness Trail are experts in the field of fermentation. Since all of their fermentation expertise, they start each mash from scratch. In the case of the Small Batch ‘Wheated’ the mash-bill constists of 64 % corn, 24 % wheat and 12 % malted barley. On top of that, the distillery enters their new make with a lower barrel proof of 110 into the casks. Afterwards, the whiskey spends five to six years in a ‘bonded’ warehouse in ‘No. 4 char’ barrels and is bottled at an ABV 50 %.

Typical wheated bourbon notes

First off, the Wilderness Trail starts exactly as you might expect from a wheated bourbon. It is smooth with sweeter notes. Yet, this does not mean it is a boring one! Instead, you can also find buttery flavours and notes of rape seed oil, combined with certain walnut flavours.

Not Cameron’s kick

There are way too less Cameron’s Kick variations out there! I have to admit I neglected the drink way too long myself, but it is just an excellent combination of flavours. In this case, I riffed on it by replacing the Irish Whiskey and Scotch with the Wilderness Trail bourbon and Mirabelle eau de vie with a fruit extract. Finally, I added a few dashes of the barrel aged Woodford Reserve Orange Bitters.

The first thing you notice about the ‘Kick Drum Heart’ is the combination of whiskey and orgeat. Yet, the Mirabelle eau de vie also kicks in. You get some Whisky Sour flavours, but the Orgeat makes the drink more complex and balanced at the same time. The stone fruit notes really work well with the almond flavour.