midnight stinger

1 oz Bourbon (Wild Turkey 81)
1 oz Fernet Branca
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup

Build in a rocks glass and stir to mix. Fill with crushed ice, garnish with a mint sprig (here, lemon twist), and add a straw.

Two Fridays ago, I decided to make a drink that I had spotted on Campari-America's Instagram feed called the Midnight Stinger. The drink was attributed to Milk & Honey's Sam Ross although other sources include Michael McIlroy in on the action. Campari was promoting the recipe as part of a series of drinks in 2014 honoring the 6 decades that Jimmy Russell has been Wild Turkey's master distiller. I made the drink with Wild Turkey to pay tribute, although the recipe was perhaps developed initially with another whiskey. The use of Fernet Branca as a mint flavor source reminded me of the Prizefighter even though that was vermouth instead of whiskey based.
The Midnight Stinger began with a lemon oil (instead of a minty one since my mint patch is dormant not to mention buried under 4 feet of snow) aroma with herbal notes from the Fernet Branca poking through. A malty lemon sip gave way to a Bourbon swallow with a lot of Fernet Branca flavor. The Midnight Stinger was definitely Fernet-forward but the amaro did not linger on the palate like it often can. And over time, the libation mellowed with the dilution from the melting ice.