Mixology Monday: Perfect 10

I'm really excited to be participating in Mixology Monday for the first time! This internet-wide cocktail challenge is open to everyone. There's a different theme each month. Aspiring mixologists like myself take a crack at inventing their own new recipe or digging up an appropriate existing one, and then all the results are rounded up on a different host blog.

This month's theme is Walk of Shame. The challenge is to take a cocktail that you are now ashamed you ever drank and re-vamp it to be something respectable. It's going to be interesting seeing what cocktails are considered to be in need of rehab. In the announcement, Whitney of Tipicular Fixings mentions the Mudslide, which is one of my upcoming posts! Well, I may not be a sophisticated tippler just yet, but I can definitely improve upon a drink or two.

I briefly toyed with the idea of choosing Sex on the Beach (I would call my version Maybe a Just a Brief Makeout Session on the Beach Because the Sand Would Get Everywhere Am I Right?) but I ultimately decided on the 7&7. If you're not familiar, this is a highly sophisticated mix of America's finest whiskey, Seagram's Seven Crown, and the bubbly, in no way artificial citrus flavor of 7-Up. It was my mom's drink of choice when I was younger. We have now both moved on to more sophisticated libations, but when I first started drinking it was an easy go-to. I remember it pretty fondly. I'd love to recreate the flavors in a more refined way.

First we need to switch out the 7-Up with the real thing: fresh lemon and lime juices, simple syrup, and club soda. Then we need to swap out the Seagram's for some decent whiskey, or at least as decent as I can afford. After a brief taste test of what I had on hand, I chose Redemption bourbon, which is a high-rye bourbon.

Once I had something resembling a 7&7 in taste but oh-so-much-better in ingredients, I wanted to elevate it a little further. The combination of bourbon, citrus, and club soda is basically a Whiskey Collins, and not all that new. Besides, I've seen past Mixology Monday roundups, and I was a little intimidated. Surely I'd better add some Fernet Branca or smoked pineapple or something. So I used my recipe in progress as an excuse to buy something I've been eyeing for a while: Bittermen's Boston Bittahs. Let's be honest, they basically had me at the name. But I thought a bit of bitterness would round out the recipe, and the flavors of citrus and chamomile sounded like a perfect compliment to what I had cooked up. And I think it really works.

Finally, a garnish. The perfect one would be a chamomile flower, but who has those just lying around? So I had to settle for an a lemon slice and a sprig of thyme, the scent of which I thought went nicely with the cocktail.

From the 7&7, I give you... the Perfect 10. I like it, and I hope you guys do too.

UPDATE: The MXMO roundup is here!

Perfect 10

1 3/4 oz. bourbon
1 oz. simple syrup
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. lime juice
12 drops Bittermen's Boston Bittahs
4 oz. club soda

Combine bourbon, simple syrup, lemon and lime juices, and bitters in a shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with club soda. Garnish with a chamomile flower or a lemon slice and a sprig of thyme.