Bourbon Crusta

Recipe: Bourbon Crusta (serves one)

• 2 oz. bourbon
• 1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur
• 1/2 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• lemon peel
• lemon wedge and sugar for rim

Rub the rim of a martini glass with lemon wedge. Pour some sugar onto a plate and rim the glass with it. Shake the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into the sugar-rimmed martini glass, and garnish with lemon peel.

This citrusy bourbon drink is similar to the cognac-based Sidecar. In many recipes, it also has an additional 1/2 oz. Cointreau plus 2 dashes orange bitters, but we prefer the more simple version here. Crustas were created in the mid-1800’s; back then, a crusta was simply any drink that combined a spirit, lemon juice, and a sugar rim.