4 Easy-to-Make Craft Cocktails to Warm Up Your Nights

This season, celebrate at home with a great cocktail built around one of these beloved winter weather spirits.

Legent Straight Bourbon

Price: $34.99 | Size: 750 mL  | Code: 82106

Expertly distilled by Fred Noe, seventh-generation master distiller of Jim Beam, and artfully blended by Shinji Fukuyo, chief blender of Suntory, the founding house of Japanese whisky. Starting with high-quality grain, calcium-rich limestone water and newly charred white oak, the extra-aged bourbon is then aged in hand-selected wine and sherry casks and rested over the warm Kentucky summer pulling spice and fruity undertones from the wine-soaked barrels. The liquid is then meticulously blended to achieve a bourbon that’s rich on the nose yet approachable and well-balanced on the palate.

Rising Sun

Ingredients

1 ½ oz Legent Straight
Bourbon

½ oz apricot liqueur

1 ½ oz fresh lemon juice

¼ oz simple syrup

1 cherry

Directions

1. Stir first four ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice.

2. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass with 1 ice cube.

3. Garnish with cherry.

Maker’s Mark 46 Straight Bourbon 

Price: $39.99  |  Size: 750 mL  |  Code: 3368

It starts with fully matured Maker’s Mark straight out of the barrel, but then takes a bold twist. Seared French oak staves are added to the barrel, and it’s finished a bit longer in a cool aging cellar. The result is a whisky with bolder, more complex flavors.

Maker’s Mark 46 Manhattan

Ingredients

2 oz Maker’s Mark 46 Straight Bourbon

1 oz sweet vermouth

2 dashes aromatic
bitters

1 cherry 

Directions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice.

2. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass neat or on the rocks.

3. Garnish with cherry.

Basil Hayden’s Straight Bourbon 

Price: $42.99  |  Size: 750 mL  |  Code: 6915

Artfully aged at a relatively mild 80 proof, Basil Hayden’s is marked by a rich cascade of aromas and flavors. Produced in small batches, it has aromas of spice, tea and a hint of peppermint, and spicy, peppery flavors with honey and a gentle bite. Its finish is dry, clean and brief.

Bourbon Sidecar

Ingredients

1 ½ oz Basil Hayden’s Straight Bourbon 

1 oz orange liqueur

½ oz fresh lemon juice

1 lemon twist

Directions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a shaker filled with ice.

2. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

3. Garnish with lemon twist.

Knob Creek Single Barrel Straight Bourbon Reserve 9 Year Old

Price: $59.99  |  Size: 750 mL  |  Code: 3276

Made from a hand-selected barrel and bottled at 120 proof, this bourbon shows the deep complex flavors of vanilla, nuts and oak leading to a long, full finish. An unflinching balance of deep, old-style flavor with a natural oak sweetness.

New Fashioned

Ingredients

1 oz Knob Creek Single Barrel Straight
Bourbon Reserve 9 Year Old

½ oz amaretto

¼ oz simple syrup

3 dashes orange bitters

1 orange peel

Directions

1. Combine first four ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice; stir.

2. Strain into rocks glass.

3. Garnish with orange peel.

This is a paid partnership between Beam Suntory and Philadelphia Magazine