A Meyer Maple Sour (to Your Health!)

Science shows that drinking is good for you. Happy New Year!

Forget the recipes I provided you with all year — those consisting of super greens, vegetables, fruits and ingredients that force you to make trips to the co-op. You can now do your healthy food shopping in the same place you get your whiskey. In fact, that is your healthy food shopping. Yes, that’s right. The mother of all studies has finally arrived. The one you’ve been waiting for. The one you'll print out and keep in your pocket just in case you need validation. Here it is:

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have shown that moderate drinking can boost the immune system.

They are fuzzy on what “moderate” means, so I’ll leave that to your wise judgement. My only job is to scour reputable scientific journals to share the latest breakthrough research with you.
 

Unlike many studies, this is not some self-promoting alcohol industry-backed “experiment.” I would wager, this was probably funded by the ATF and it smacked them in the face with a big…

Lesson learned? You can find research to back anything.

Including everyone’s favorite I'm-letting-it-all-go-because-by-January-1-I’m-only-going-to-juice-and-eat-salads.

We'll take it. And take it with style.

This NYE, I encourage you to embrace this study’s findings and graduate from your good old rum and coke to try some cocktails with a dash of bitters. There’s a New Years resolution for you.

Bitters are plant extracts that were originally used for medicinal purposes. Face palm. There you go, another point for you. Nowadays, they are used as digestifs at the end of a meal or to add flavor to cocktails. I am sure you have heard of Angostura and Campari — two of the most popular bitters. My favorites are Amaro and Aperol. Bitters have a wide range of flavors and like many alcohol preparations, you can even use them in cooking.

Our very own Wigle distillery has come up with two beautiful bitters — one aromatic and one floral with rosemary and lavender. Both of them are organic and made with local ingredients.

They shared the recipe for one of my favorite cocktails I tasted this year — try it in your first foray into the sweet world of bitters.

Happy New Year!

  Meyer Maple Sour

by Wes Shonk of Butcher and the Rye
 

Ingredients

• 2 oz Wigle Organic White Rye Whiskey
• 1 oz Meyer lemon juice
• .75 oz maple syrup
• 2 dashes Wigle Aromatic bitters
• Optional egg white

Cold shake and strain over ice into rocks glass.