What cocktails can I make with Monkey Shoulder Scotch?

Monkey Shoulder is a blended scotch, but the whole premise around Monkey Shoulder is that it's made for mixing. So it's not a traditional scotch that you sit down and sip neat. It is designed to be mixed in cocktails. For Monkey Shoulder, what we want to do is push the idea of scotch in cocktails, as extreme as possible to get this message across. We suggest to come up with an overarching idea of making a scotch Tiki cocktail, for example, or a scotch cocktail with tropical flavors, something you wouldn't normally expect. That's the goal, right? It has to be something that looks like a rum drink. That can be served by the pool. It could be blended, it could be with crushed ice. You might find it in a Tiki bar. And then you work backwards to fit in Monkey Shoulder. Then, you would then come bring in different elements. Like big tropical flavors such as fresh pineapple. You could add orgeat simple syrup instead of just a regular sugar. Start from that. Ask yourself what are you trying to achieve? How does it need to taste and how does the temperature need to be? How does it need to look? And then you work backwards rather than looking at Monkey Shoulder, like a scotch, and then thinking about scotch cocktails.

How travels inspire your cocktail creations ?

Last year I was lucky enough to visit both Columbia and Costa Rica. And in both places, we went to visit a coffee plantation and, I drink coffee regularly. It's not a new ingredient to me and I've even used it in drinks before, but when you actually learn the whole process of how coffee grows, the aromas of the coffee flower, how the coffee berries open, how they are processed, and then experiencing coffee tasting like a cupping. I was just open in terms of the different flavors of coffee and then how they can be balanced in a drink, for maybe a more citrusy side or a spicy side or a fruity side. So that was a really great experience, which is unforgettable because I was literally in nature, in the coffee plantations scene and breathing in, and enjoying the aromas. And then you learn about the production. Coffee for me, after that trip just exploded with opportunities for cocktails.

Cocktail recipe with Nixta Licor de Elote

• 1 ½ oz Monkey Shoulder Scotch Whisky
• ¾ oz Nixta – Licor de Elote (new Mexican corn liquor)
• ¾ oz Sweetened Corn water
• 1 oz Fresh lemon juice
• Combine ingredients and shake very well
• Strain into a coupe glass prepared with a half rim of tajin spice
• Garnish with micro cilantro and an edible flower from The Chef’s Garden