Hunt Club Sour

All Photos by @AverellMondie.

Hunt Club Sour

Every year, my father spends countless hours picking out pecans that he collects from my great grandparents pecan grove in North-East Arkansas. He comes home from work and sits on a stool in his workshop next to a wood burning furnace and cracks, picks, and cleans each individual nut and gifts them in increments of sandwich bag at a time to family members. I was lucky enough to get a bag and used a few handfuls to put together a luscious pecan orgeat, used here in a bitter, cold weather take on a Trinidad sour.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. Fernet

• 1 oz. Pecan Orgeat (recipe below)

• 1/2 oz. Rye Whiskey

• 1/2 oz. Lemon Juice

• 1/4 oz. High Wire Distilling Co. Southern Amaro

• 1 dash Wild Root Bitters

• 1 dash Orange Bitters

• 1 bar spoon Olive Oil

• Fresh Bay Leaf (Garnish)

Preparation:

To prepare the Pecan Orgeat: Roughly chop 1 cup pecans, cover with water and let this mixture sit on the counter overnight. The following day, strain off the nuts and measure your liquid. In a saucepan, combine equal parts liquid and demerara sugar and heat until the sugar melts.

Combine all ingredients except garnish into a cocktail shaker - Shake like hell until the olive oil begins to froth a bit. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with fresh bay leaf.