Recently, I helped a friend of a friend move and, as a thank-you, inherited what can only be described as a truckload of alcohol. Decades' worth of bottles—some hidden gems, a few best-left-in-the-past horrors, and a lot of bottles that fall into the gray area between "not great" and "not worth tossing." Among these misfits sits a bottle of Canadian LTD whisky—a smooth, if uninspiring blend, often described as "harsh" and "uninteresting." It’s fine, but sipping it neat isn't exactly worth the brain cells. I decided to see if I could give it a little life, starting a personal experiment in “booze salvage.”
Infusion Experiment: Canadian LTD Whisky
The plan was simple: infuse the whisky with some natural flavors to mask the mediocrity and make it cocktail-worthy. I went with a combination of dried orange peel, lavender, chamomile, and honey.
Infusion Ingredients:
12g dried orange peel
5g dried lavender (or less)
15g dried chamomile
110g honey (warmed to mix easily)
The lavender was the wildcard. If you've ever worked with lavender, you know how easily it can make whatever you're working with taste like soap. I kept it to a modest 5 grams, which was enough to add a hint of herbal complexity without pushing it into hand-soap territory. Even then, it was a bit much and I might use less next time.
I let the ingredients steep for 48 hours, giving the whisky time to mellow and take on a layered, slightly floral flavor, with the honey adding a roundness that Canadian LTD sorely needed.
Cocktail Creation: The Lathander
With the infusion ready, I started mixing, aiming to come up with a cocktail that was bright, balanced, and could make use of some of the other random bottles I acquired. Here’s what I landed on:
The Lathander
60 ml of the infused Canadian LTD
30 ml fresh lemon juice
30 ml Patron orange liqueur (another find from the stash)
30 ml ginger liqueur (like Canton)
Instructions: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
The Lathander is a play on a whiskey sour with the honey base replacing the egg white, and adding a citrus bite, and a subtle ginger kick. It’s a drink that feels refreshing, if a little unexpected, and it works as a showcase for this revived bottle of whisky.
Monday Night Cocktails: The Tradition Begins
One of my best friends and I have always made time to catch up over our Monday Night Cocktail tradition, so why invent some unique cocktails while we’re at it?
There’s a rowdy assortment in this stash — bottles I’d never buy, a few that feel like museum pieces, and some I’ve never even heard of. So, every Monday, we’re going to Open a bottle - or three - and get weird
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