Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Wild Turkey bourbon and Elysian Night Owl flock together in his Birds of a Feather
Barleymash’s whiskey-beer cocktail is a unique offering for the fall season
Ramon Torres
Ramon Torres
- Ramon Torres
- Barleymash
- 600 Fifth Avenue #6916
- Gaslamp
It’s a summerlike day in the city, but my desire for festive autumnal libations rages on. Thankfully, I’m not alone in wanting to soak up the season’s specialty flavors: Barleymash bartender Ramon Torres happily serves me his bar’s Birds of a Feather. “It’s a pumpkin spice cocktail with a whiskey base, finished with beer,” he says. “Being in San Diego, where we don’t necessarily have fall seasons, I wanted to do something that’s like ‘fall in a glass.’”
He explains that part of his motivation was to create a seasonally-inspired cocktail that would be approachable on two sides. “For someone who’s not going to opt for a pumpkin cocktail, you have the whiskey, the beer. Then, for someone who wouldn’t go for a whiskey cocktail, since there’s pumpkin in it, they’ll be like, ‘Ok, this might intrigue me.’” Torres tacks this bit on as well: “And I kind of wanted to meld two of the things we do here, which is an extensive whiskey list and a beer program.”
Though he initially set out to make a fall-style whiskey sour, “those harsher [lemon] citrus tones weren’t really working. So, I went with a softer citrus with the orange.” He continues describing the full flavor palate, “It’s not like a typical ‘pumpkin’ — you get spices: the clove, the star anise, the cinnamon, and nutmeg. We do a house-made pumpkin spice honey syrup, and that enhances the notes of the whiskey. A little bit of angostura bitters add to the spice.”
As for the name, it turns out that Wild Turkey bourbon and Elysian Night Owl pumpkin ale are what flock together in his Birds of a Feather. Bourbon brings in “vanilla, butterscotch notes, which most whiskeys have, but you still get that strong whiskey backbone to it. But [the drink] is not overly whiskey-forward, it’s got a balance,” says Torres. Pumpkin ale adds another level of complexity to the finish. “You get the pumpkin, but you still get that dry, little bit of hop at the end. It’s more of the pumpkin essence — the flavor without being as sweet.” Plus, he jokes, “More pumpkin, why not?”
“Pumpkin pie is my treat for the holidays,” shares Torres. “I’m not a big dessert person, but that one in particular was always nostalgic… kind of reminded me of the season. But I didn’t want to go with something that was overly sweet or not approachable, so that’s why I went with the whiskey and beer to round it out.”
Compared to other pumpkin spice drinks, he concludes, this whiskey-beer cocktail is a unique offering for the fall season. “We tried to delve into those two different areas to challenge what you would typically want to order, or expect.”
Birds of a Feather
- Barleymash’s
- Birds of a feather
- 1 oz. Wild Turkey bourbon
- 1/2 oz. fresh orange juice
- 1/2 oz. pumpkin honey syrup
- Dash Angostura bitters
- Mix ingredients, shake and strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Top with Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. Garnish with orange peel.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Wild Turkey bourbon and Elysian Night Owl flock together in his Birds of a Feather
Barleymash’s whiskey-beer cocktail is a unique offering for the fall season
Wild Turkey bourbon and Elysian Night Owl flock together in his Birds of a Feather
Barleymash’s whiskey-beer cocktail is a unique offering for the fall season
Ramon Torres
Ramon Torres
- Ramon Torres
- Barleymash
- 600 Fifth Avenue #6916
- Gaslamp
It’s a summerlike day in the city, but my desire for festive autumnal libations rages on. Thankfully, I’m not alone in wanting to soak up the season’s specialty flavors: Barleymash bartender Ramon Torres happily serves me his bar’s Birds of a Feather. “It’s a pumpkin spice cocktail with a whiskey base, finished with beer,” he says. “Being in San Diego, where we don’t necessarily have fall seasons, I wanted to do something that’s like ‘fall in a glass.’”
He explains that part of his motivation was to create a seasonally-inspired cocktail that would be approachable on two sides. “For someone who’s not going to opt for a pumpkin cocktail, you have the whiskey, the beer. Then, for someone who wouldn’t go for a whiskey cocktail, since there’s pumpkin in it, they’ll be like, ‘Ok, this might intrigue me.’” Torres tacks this bit on as well: “And I kind of wanted to meld two of the things we do here, which is an extensive whiskey list and a beer program.”
Though he initially set out to make a fall-style whiskey sour, “those harsher [lemon] citrus tones weren’t really working. So, I went with a softer citrus with the orange.” He continues describing the full flavor palate, “It’s not like a typical ‘pumpkin’ — you get spices: the clove, the star anise, the cinnamon, and nutmeg. We do a house-made pumpkin spice honey syrup, and that enhances the notes of the whiskey. A little bit of angostura bitters add to the spice.”
As for the name, it turns out that Wild Turkey bourbon and Elysian Night Owl pumpkin ale are what flock together in his Birds of a Feather. Bourbon brings in “vanilla, butterscotch notes, which most whiskeys have, but you still get that strong whiskey backbone to it. But [the drink] is not overly whiskey-forward, it’s got a balance,” says Torres. Pumpkin ale adds another level of complexity to the finish. “You get the pumpkin, but you still get that dry, little bit of hop at the end. It’s more of the pumpkin essence — the flavor without being as sweet.” Plus, he jokes, “More pumpkin, why not?”
“Pumpkin pie is my treat for the holidays,” shares Torres. “I’m not a big dessert person, but that one in particular was always nostalgic… kind of reminded me of the season. But I didn’t want to go with something that was overly sweet or not approachable, so that’s why I went with the whiskey and beer to round it out.”
Compared to other pumpkin spice drinks, he concludes, this whiskey-beer cocktail is a unique offering for the fall season. “We tried to delve into those two different areas to challenge what you would typically want to order, or expect.”
Birds of a Feather
- Barleymash’s
- Birds of a feather
- 1 oz. Wild Turkey bourbon
- 1/2 oz. fresh orange juice
- 1/2 oz. pumpkin honey syrup
- Dash Angostura bitters
- Mix ingredients, shake and strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Top with Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. Garnish with orange peel.