The Spirits #167: The Bourbon Milkshake

Plus Ryan Chetiyawardana, magic spells and milkshake philosophy

~ THE BOURBON MILKSHAKE ~

50ml bourbon/rye
~200ml ice cream
50m whole milk
Pinch of salt
Cinnamon

Once again, you’ll need a blender for this one. Take the ice cream out of the freezer a good 15 minutes prior to making the shake. Then scoop it into the blender (200ml is about three scoops) along with the milk, bourbon and salt. Whirr. And pour into a tall glass. Grate (or dust) cinnamon on top and garnish with a garish maraschino cherry.

Some Bourbon Milkshake notes:

1) There are about 500 calories in this thing, the equivalent of 2x Mars bars or, basically, lunch. I was still twitching when I went to sleep. Your metabolism has been warned.

2) But fuck me it’s delicious. I was inspired to create it after enjoying the Bourbon Ball ice-cream served at New Riff distillery, KY. So good. I think bourbon might be the spirit that goes best with ice-cream. I used Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough, the most American flavour I could find, in tandem with Starlino from the Rabbit Hole distillery, which is a rye whiskey aged in vermouth barrels. But just about any ice-cream in the vanilla/chocolate/caramel/pecan ballpark would work, I should think. Don’t neglect the salt which makes it just that bit more moreish. And the cinnamon dusting, collapsing into the milkshake, is heavenly.

3) I should say, this works pretty well without the bourbon too - just in case you have any small children in the house (it would reach Roald Dahlian levels of cruelty to make milkshake and say: ‘No, no, not for you, kids!’). For a regular non-alcoholic milkshake, the ratio of ice-cream to milk should be about 4:1 for a sweeter and thicker milkshake - but a 3:1 ratio will make that ice-cream go a little further. But for further milkshake philosophising, see below the line.

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✨WELCOME TO THE SPIRITS✨
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🖊️I am Richard Godwin, journalist by trade…
📚… cocktail writer when I’m skirting deadlines.
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➡️Please find a round up of organisations helping Ukrainians here.
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THE eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I’m quite fond of alcohol. Bourbon, rum, tequila, creme de banane, Brancamenta, cherry brandy - it’s all good with me. In fact, lobbing these things into drinks has become something of a weekly habit of mine. However, I do feel the need to stress, once in a while, that while alcohol is an essential component of a cocktail that doesn’t mean that it is the essential component.

The essential component is, in fact, the act of making something for someone with care. That something can be a Cantaloupe Frappé or a Morning Glory Fizz. Of course it can! But it can also be a milkshake that you make for your kids. Or anything made with care and intention.

I have been thinking about this a lot since I interviewed perhaps the greatest of all modern bartenders, Ryan Chetiyawardana of Dandelyan, White Lyan, Super-Lyan etc, for the new Observer Food Monthly. You can find the interview in this Sunday’s paper (along with a whole selection of Spritzes). But here is a quote that stayed with me:

“My mum was a phenomenal cook and we were all taught that, if somebody has made something, that’s an act of love and you should be grateful for that. And it was also something that brought everyone together. A cocktail is basically the top trumps of this. It’s so immediate. And it inherently feels special.”

What I found interesting about Ryan is that he is an amusingly overqualified man, who could have have opted for any number of careers. He studied drawing at Central St Martins; he has a degree in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh; he toyed with medicine and biology too; and he also did a catering course. But he chose to make drinks as it was the thing that combined all of his interests - but most especially, the love of hospitality that his mum had instilled in him.

As an obsessive cook, he considered becoming a chef. But the thing is, he said, if you’re a chef, you have to spend your whole time in the restaurant kitchen. You don’t actually get to go out and chat to the people you’ve just been labouring to delight - and you don’t get to see their reactions either. Many chefs are absolutely fine with this. Ryan wasn’t.

And so he opted for bartending - because bartending is different. You can be just as exacting about the flavours and processes and techniques you’re using to delight your customers. But you’re in a conversation with the delightee throughout the process. “I care a lot about what can be pushed behind the bar. But it’s always a means to bring people together,” he said.

It’s such an obvious point - but I think it’s worth reiterating. Bartenders differ from chefs mainly in the relationship they have with their customers. It’s much closer, in this sense, to home-cooking - where the host is hopefully present for the meal. And unlike a few other premier bartenders I could name, Ryan genuinely seems to enjoy being behind his bars, talking to people, seeing their reactions. This much is evident in his new series, Mr Lyan’s Taste Trips, which sees him travel to Japan, Scotland, Colombia and elsewhere for inspiration. I will no doubt be stealing some tips from here in the near future.

🍨

Anyway, to return to milkshakes. You can put bourbon in them and oh my goodness, you will not regret it. But milkshakes are also just a great way to introduce children to the whole business of making something special for people you love - that whole magic business that Ryan was talking about. I make them with my kids regularly for this reason. So much less faff than baking. So much faster, too. Almost infinite scope for experimentation. And you can even make them Lacto-Free if you want.

The ice-cream milkshake above is at the most decadent end of the milkshake spectrum. But more often than not we’ll use a banana as the thickening agen -the riper the better, since ripe bananas have more sugar in them. The other essential ingredient (besides milk) is a couple of ice cubes to keep it cool throughout the whirring process. (The same is true of humous, pesto, etc!)

The optional extras are up to you. You can take the milkshake in a slightly healthier direction. I will almost always add kefir or yoghurt and a spoonful of peanut butter. I sometimes lob in handfuls of spinach or kale too. Don’t make that face! This imparts an eerie green glow and is a good way to sneak vitamins into children. We call them “Hulk Shakes”. Green cardamon makes a good addition.

You can also add extra fruit - frozen is good. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, mango, or the Pina Colada esque combination of coconut and pineapple. If you’ve a powerful Nutribullet-type blender, you can trust it to liquidise nuts or seeds, too, as long as you give it a really good whirr.

But of course you can go in the more indulgent direction. A scoop of ice cream. A spoonful of cocoa powder. I’m partial to Horlicks/Ovaltine (then you have “chocolate malt”). Maple syrup. Honey. Vanilla extract. But it was my eldest who first had the idea of throwing entire biscuits in there - and by golly, it works. An Oreo cookie. A Biscoff or two. We have even been known to throw in packets of Maltesers in. I know! Ideally topped with squirty cream, sprinkles and a luminous cherry.

Don’t worry. I will return to something terribly sophisticated and grown up next time. But I think it is worth remembering that the reason that cocktails delight us so much is not only because of their adult ingredients. It’s also because they take us back to childhood. The magic lies in the act of transforming a bunch of surprising things into something else via a few well-remembered spells - plus a little dash of [[[STOP IT RICHARD!!!]]] love.

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PLAYLIST

Dairy products (slight return).

THIS PLAYLIST UPDATES AUTOMATICALLY EACH WEEK. The idea is, you download/’like’ it and return to it each week in your Spotify to find a suite of new songs. If there was an old song you’d like to hear again, you’ll find it RIGHT HERE in the massive ongoing archive of past playlists.

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WHAT I’VE BEEN WRITING

Here is my selection of Spritzes plus complimentary snacks! (Observer Food Monthly)

I think you’ll need to pick up the actual paper for the interview with Ryan Chetiyawardana. But it will be worth it, I’m sure - I’ve been impressed by the new Observer. (Observer Food Monthly)

I also wrote an ENTIRE LONG READ about cutlery. My favourite part was visiting Alex Pole, cutler to the Michelin-starred, at his beautiful forge in Dorset. I also got to go behind the scenes at the V&A where I fondled such recondite implements as crumb-scrapers, olave spoons, melon spoons. (Telegraph Magazine)

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel Idle Grounds by Krystelle Bamford. It’s about a ragtag group of small cousins who head out on an adventure from their aunt’s house while all the adults are otherwise occupied. It’s very much in the Edward Gorey / Maurice Sendak / Wes Anderson extended universe and it captures the child’s limited comprehension of the world in a way that’s vivid and unsettling:

“Do you guys want to see something?”
Yes, we said. We always want to see something.
We all went up the stairs together. The wallpaper had both stripes and flowers, so either the flowers seemed caged or the stripes look like they had some kind of bacterial infection.
”OK.” Travis pressed his finger on the screen of the bathroom window. “Look.”

You can read Johanna’s review here. (The Times)

I thought this column by Leo Reich about who gets to be real and who unreal was seriously great (Observer)

On Israel’s deliberate starvation of Gaza (Prospect)

On the right’s favourite genocide apologist, Douglas Murray (Numb at the Lodge)

On Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to be your therapist (BIG by Matt Stoller)

And enragingly, on how the Labour government just can’t bend backwards far enough for Big Tech. (Guardian)

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SOME CABINET POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY

🐿️ Amaretto
🧡 Aperol
🍑 Apricot Brandy
🕊️ Bénédictine
❄️ Brancamenta
☕ Coffee Liqueur
🍌 Crème de Banane
🍫 Crème de Cacao
🫐 Crème de Cassis
🌷 Cynar
🦌 Drambuie
🌸Elderflower Liqueur
🏝️ Falernum
🦅 Fernet-Branca
🌿 Green Chartreuse
🐻 Kümmel
🍒 Maraschino
🌵 Mezcal
🦙 Pisco
🐂 Sherry
🧙‍♀️ Strega (incorporating Yellow Chartreuse)
🌻 Suze

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SHOPPING LIST: OK next time you’ll need: Campari, watermelon, prosecco (or a dry unoaked white wine), fizy water and absinthe.