Penicillin Cocktail

Quickly think of a Scottish cocktail! It’s hard, isn’t it? While Scotch is an impressive spirit in its own right, it doesn’t often make an appearance in cocktails because its smokiness poses a challenge. Softer whiskeys, like rye and bourbon, play better with other ingredients.

The history of the penicillin cocktail

Although it possesses the brilliant simplicity and why-didn’t-I-think-of-that-As a classic, steeped in history, penicillin has relatively recent origins.

It was founded in the early 2000s by Sam Ross, a bartender who worked at pioneering New York cocktail joint Milk & Honey. Ross took the elements of the Gold Rush cocktail (bourbon, lemon, and honey), made it with blended scotch, then added equal parts honey syrup and sweetened ginger juice. He finished the drink with a shot of peaty scotch and a star was born.

The name implies it’s a bit of a panacea – we’ll let you judge.

How does a penicillin taste?

If you’ve had a whiskey sour before, you know that adding citrus and a sweet element to whiskey brings out its pleasant, friendly side. Suddenly the same whiskey is powerful yet accessible; impressive but friendly.

The penicillin is basically a Scotch-based whiskey sour, with honey as a sweetener and some ginger to shake things up.

And shake things up, it does! A Scotch Sour isn’t a bad drink to start with, but bold, smoky spirits like Scotch and Mezcal are drawn to other equally strong flavors – like ginger. While the ginger harmonises wonderfully with the peaty, earthy flavors of the Scotch, you can definitely still taste the ginger in the finished drink!

Which blended scotch should I use?

You will need a blended scotch for the base scotch needed in this drink. Look for Famous Grouse, a well-known mix that’s easy to find and reasonably priced.

When I was looking for a blended Scotch at my local liquor store, the friendly folks there offered me a new bottling called Naked Grouse, which claims to be a blend of single malts from Highland Park, Macallan and others. It’s a bit more expensive than Famous Grouse, but a very nice drink and also a great candidate to drink alone.

Which peat scotch should I use?

Let’s talk peat: The peaty float required at the end of this drink might seem secondary, but it definitely adds something to the final drink. You can of course make the drink without it, but without that dreamy, smoky cloud floating above the surface, the penicillin loses a bit of its essence.

The recipe calls for a beautifully smoky Islay Scotch; Ross used peat monsters. I like the Laphroaig 10 Year, but Ardbeg is a good choice too.

Those bottles of Scotch are a great investment. So if you are new to scotch I would consider trying one in a bar before buying a whole bottle. If you like the taste of a smoky Scotch, or at least are fascinated by it, there’s a good chance you’ll like the effect that extra smokiness has on this drink.

More whiskey cocktails to enjoy:

• Whiskey Sour
• Manhattan cocktail
• Boulevardier cocktail
• Autumn flavored Old Fashioned Cocktail