Like many people working remotely for the last several months, I have been putting some of the time I save from commuting into creative outlets. While some have perfected their sourdough or focaccia, I have been focusing at least some of my energies on the invention (and enjoyment) of new cocktails. Admittedly, some of these new concoctions don’t quite pan out, but the experience of seeing how flavors combine is always quite fascinating, if not always quite palatable.

My wife, Jessica, recently returned from a lengthy trip to Canada and brought me back an unusual Canadian whiskey—which alas is not available in this country—that was the inspiration for my most recent, and perhaps best to date, creation. Stalk & Barrel Red Blend is made by a small Toronto-based craft distillery and blends together the distillery’s malt and rye whiskies with corn whiskey. This blend tastes to me like a cross between a rye and an Irish whiskey—with rye spiciness melding nicely with the cereal malty-creaminess of an Irish whiskey. After enjoying a glass of this, I decided to try to create a cocktail with readily available ingredients that captures that enticing flavor combination.

I kept the recipe simple, wanting to highlight the flavors of the whiskey mixture, and based the recipe on that of a Daisy (a 19th-century cocktail classic) by flavoring the cocktail with lemon juice and raspberry syrup. I also added some egg white, which when shaken will act as an emulsifier and gives the drink a creamy, foamy texture that I believe emphasizes the creamy maltiness of the Irish whiskey.

With Purim little more than a month away, I may not yet know what wine I will be serving and the seudah, but if Jessica has her way, I’m pretty sure I know what cocktail I will be serving beforehand.

Jessica’s Delight

Ingredients:

2 tbsps. of rye whiskey (Rittenhouse Rye and Wild Turkey 101 Straight Rye would be good choices)

2 tbsps. of Irish whiskey (Bushmills and Powers would be good choices)

2 tsp. raspberry syrup (Kedem works well)

1½ tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Dash of Angostura Orange Bitters

½ of an egg white

Technique:

Fill a cocktail glass or a champagne coupe with ice water in order to chill the glass. In a cocktail shaker add the whiskies and the egg white and shake for 30 seconds. (The alcohol in the whiskey should kill any unwanted bacteria.) Then add the lemon juice, raspberry syrup and orange bitters, and shake for another 30 seconds. Add a handful of ice cubes, then shake for another minute or two. Pour the ice water out of the cocktail glass, and then strain in the contents of the cocktail shaker. Enjoy!

Note:

This recipe calls for raw egg white. If this is a concern, you may want to use either eggs pasteurized in the shell or bottled pasteurized egg whites, both of which are available in many supermarkets, or you may omit the egg white altogether. However, the egg white helps produce a rich, velvety texture and foamy mousse that will be lost if omitted. If you are omitting the egg white from the recipe, you can skip the two rounds of iceless shaking. Just add all of the other ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for a minute.

For more than 15 years, Gamliel Kronemer has been writing about kosher wine, spirits, cocktails and food in a number of different Jewish newspapers and magazines. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.