The Story Behind The Southern Knight

My cocktail for this week is an adaptation of a recipe I learned in New Orleans earlier this year. While visiting the city I was able to spend some time at the Lobby Bar in the Windsor Court Hotel with bartender Kent Westmoreland, who has a great appreciation of classic cocktails. During our visit he had me taste a ton of his incredible cocktail creations, including the Southern Knight, and I knew immediately that I wanted to give it a twist and share it with you.

Many bourbon recipes ask for the inclusion of lemon juice and/or ginger, and todays recipe is no exception; these flavors just work so well together. I started with the bourbon, lemon juice and ginger in the form of ginger beer and then decided I needed to balance the concoction out a little further with the addition of some sugar, which came in the form of a strawberry simple syrup. The result is a delicious cocktail I am sure you will love.

Ingredients

2 ounces bourbon
1 ounce lemon juice
½ ounce strawberry syrup (recipe below)
Top with ginger beer
2 cups ice

Directions

Combine bourbon, lemon juice, strawberry syrup and 1 cup of ice into shaker and shake to dilute and chill mixture.
Strain into a serving glass and top with ginger beer.
Garnish with a strawberry.