Wi’ tippeny, we fear nae evil;
Wi’ usquabae, we’ll face the devil!
Tomorrow is January 25th, the birthday of Robert Burns, and in Scotland, and around the world, Scots will gather for a Burns Night Supper and a dram or two of John Barleycorn. I do want to pause here for a moment of education. There are many Scotticism that the English have adapted into their language thinking that it shows that they understand their kin from north of the border, and referring to having a wee dram of whisky is one of them. If you are guilty of this, please stop, a dram is a defined measure and as such you cannot have a small dram, it would be like saying you’ll be back in a quick minute or you’d like a small pint of beer.
I spent some formative years living in Scotland, from age 4 to 8. I have many memories of that time some which happened and some which seem to have been injected into my memory since my parents and siblings swear that they never happened. One thing that I do remember though is a sense that the Scots welcomed any event as an excuse to drink and to crack open a bottle of whisky. I do remember my father’s reply to the question “why do the Scots drink so much”, he never did have much time for drunken behaviour and said “they don’t drink that much, they just can’t hold their drink”.
Anyway, having now created outrage among Scots worldwide; I know one in Texas, one in England, one who may be in Singapore or Zurich, and one in London (not really part of England) I should quickly move on.
Robert (Rabbie) Burns is a Scottish national treasure, born in 1759 in a cottage his father built, he is world famous, if for nothing else, for Auld lang syne, the song we sing on new year’s eve, or Hogmanay as the Scots call it. However, since this is a piece about cocktails, it is Burns’ love for his national drink whisky that is of most interest to me. So tightly intermingled is whisky with Scotland and the Scots that it is more commonly known as Scotch, short for Scottish Whisky.
Note that Scottish Whisky is spelt without an ‘e’ and can simply be referred to as Scotch, and that the Scottish people are Scots, not Scotch. If you aren’t confused enough already then there is a whole world to investigate about the difference between single malt, blended malt and blended whisky but I think I’ll leave that for another day.
This brings us to the title of this piece, which is two lines from the poem Tam o’ Shanter by Burns. It speaks to the courage afforded by alcohol and if I roughly translate to English
With cheap two penny ale, we fear no evil;
With whisky we’ll face down the Devil
This theme that whisky gives courage runs through other pieces of his work, and in particular one called John Barleycorn in which he personifies the drink as a character called John Barleycorn and ultimately drinking his blood will give you courage.
“What about the cocktail” do I hear you ask? Well although on the IBA classics list, it does not have a long history or a grand story, The Penicillin was invented in 2005 by Sam Ross while he worked at the now closed Milk & Honey bar in New York. I like to think that the name hints at whisky’s ability to cure all ills just as Burns believed. True to the bar’s name it does indeed contain honey along with ginger but uses blended whisky as the base but topped with an Islay smoky, peated whisky called Lagavulin. However, Lagavulin is £70 in the UK so consulting the wisdom of crowds, that being Reddit, I have opted for Laphroaig 10 year at a fraction of the price which most agree is a respectable stand in.
Many recipes call for the use of ginger syrup, but the original and the one I have reconstructed here calls for fresh ginger root which you muddle in the shaker with the honey to get that fresh ginger bite into the drink.
Remember, while the term muddle sounds quite gentle, with something like ginger you really need to mash it to a pulp to extract the flavour.
Penicillin
60ml Blended scotch whisky
7.5ml Islay smoky, peated Malt Whisky
22.5ml Fresh lemon juice
22.5ml Honey syrup
2-3 1cm cubes of fresh ginger
Instructions
Place the ginger and the honey syrup in the bottom of your shaking tin
Muddle - mash into a rough paste
Add everything else except the Islay malt and shake with ice to chill
Pour into a rocks glass with a large lump of ice
Gently float the Islay malt over the top
Garnish with a chunk (technical term ;-) of candied ginger
Enjoy your Burns’ night, even if you are having Haggis, and remember with enough whisky you can face down the Devil!
Cheers!