Sunday Walker – The Busker Irish Whiskey
There are a few exceptional drinks, which I mix far too rarely. The “Beauregard’s Breakfast” definitely falls into that category. Apart from that, I had a new Irish Whiskey as well as an Amaro to review and a homemade blueberry preserves from my mother-in-law. So, it was the obvious choice to come up with a variation on Jamie Boudreau’s original recipe!
First, the new Disaronno owned The Busker Irish Whiskey consists of a blend of grain, pot-still and single-malt whiskey. Supposedly, the whisky, which is made at the Royal Oak Distillery, contains a high proportion of pot-still and single malt whiskey. Furthermore, the blended Irish whiskey spends some time in three different barrels, namely bourbon, sherry and marsala. All in all, it is bottled at an ABV of 40 %.
Corn and grains
The Busker starts off with typical Irish Whiskey notes. You can taste some sweet corn notes and grains. Those classic flavours are accompanied by a slightly floral note as well as hints of red fruits. I guess, the former comes from the sherry and marsala casks. Towards the end, the flavour shifts towards apples and some yeast notes. In conclusion, the Busker is a surprisingly good and very smooth sipper. If you are a fan of peated single malts of course, this Irish Whiskey will taste too weak. Nevertheless, let us see how the Busker holds up in a cocktail.
Blueberries and a local herbal liqueur
For my “Beauregard’s Breakfast” riff, I used a local herbal liqueur from Sack’s Distille in the Fichtelgebirge. Their Fichtelgebirgs-Kraeuterlikoer uses angelica, gentian root, macis, star-anise and a hint of calamus root as botanicals. Apart from that, I kept the original recipe but altered the proportions a bit. On top of that, I omitted the Angostura Bitters, because the Sack’s herbal liqueur has more bitterness than the Amaro Montenegro from Jamie’s recipe.
2,25 cl Sack Amaro
3 cl Lemon Juice
Shake – double strain – chilled Cocktail glass;
Garnish: Dried Orange Wheel;
Song: Villagers – Sunday Walker;
The “Sunday Walker” starts off how I remember the “Beauregard’s Breakfast” to taste like. However, the combination of smoother Irish Whiskey and more bitter herbal liqueur also takes the drink in a slightly different direction. Yet, the sip remains very pleasant with fruity blueberry flavours and a refreshing acidity from the lemon juice. All in all, I am quite pleased with how the drink turned out and can see myself mixing it again during the colder days to come.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The Irish Whiskey was provided by Borco Markenimport.
