the healer

1 oz Old Overholt Rye
1 oz Mead
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Fee's Aromatic Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Last Wednesday, Andrea and I went down to The Gallows in the South End for cocktails. One of the drinks that bartender April Wachtel made me that night was the Healer that struck my curiosity for it paired honey with mead. What, I wondered, would mead bring to the table that honey did not? Balancing those ingredients were rye whiskey, lemon juice, and bitters in a Sour-like format.
The nose of the Healer helped to answer the question for the orange oils were paired with a honey funkiness from the mead. The sip contained lemon and the honey's sweetness, and the swallow possessed more honey flavors along with the rye's barrel notes and heat. The mead was also present in the swallow where it contributed a sour note akin to a Flemish Ale which helped to dry out the balance at the end. Lastly, as the drink warmed up, cinnamon from the bitters appeared on the swallow and worked rather well with the honey notes.