It’s the final tasting of the year and the final tasting in our store for one of our favorite people: Jon Olson of Tradition Wine & Spirits. We worked with Jon to create some barrel aged cocktails in our used 11 Wells whiskey barrels, and one is finally ready to go!

Zipps purchased a five gallon single barrel each from 11 Wells a few months ago, and we had been racking our brains on what to do with the adorable little guys. After our Assistant Wine Buyer Aaron suggested aging some cocktails in them, we knew that it had to be done. We would make this happen! Jon Olson was the first person to come to mind when thinking of a partner in this project not only because of the great experience he has behind the bar (most recently at the dearly departed La Belle Vie) but because of his creative spirit.

After tasting the bourbon together, we noticed a lot of deep, mineral-rich notes to it. The flavors just screamed for a little Hanky-Panky! Letherbee is a great distiller out of Chicago that makes both a gin and a fernet (required for the cocktail), and a personal favorite of ours, so we decided to use their spirits as the main thrust in the recipe. The remaining ingredient was the vermouth. Normally, a Hanky Panky uses only sweet vermouth, but we thought that would overshadow some of the flavors we wanted to highlight, so we opted to make it Perfect. For dry vermouth, there simply isn’t any better than Dolin out of Chambery, France. It is light, crisp and slightly herbaceous, reminiscent of the summer wind. We chose that vermouth and the rouge they make as well for a sweet vermouth with a lighter body and almost no bitterness.  We followed the ratios in the recipe at the end of this article and proceeded to procure a whole crap-ton of alcohol. After putting everything in barrel and mixing it up, it slumbered for a time. After tasting over the weeks that passed, we finally decided it had reached its peak and it was time to bottle!

Jon will be in the store on New Year’s Eve from 4-6 sampling out some great sparkling wines as well as the fruit of our labor! Purchase any of the products being tasted out, and walk out with a split bottle of the cocktail as our gift to you (recipe included)!

Perfect Letherbee Hanky-Panky

2 oz Letherbee gin
.25 oz Letherbee Fernet
.5 oz Dolin Dry
.5 oz Dolin Rouge

Combine all ingredients in mixing vessel. Add ice. Stir until proper dilution and temperature are reached. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with lemon penny. Celebrate. Drink.