Lowcountry, Where the Martinis Are Made With Bourbon

From the Times: 

Bourbon All the Way at Lowcountry

By ROBERT SIMONSON

A “Wild Negroni,” made with bourbon at Lowcountry.Leah Linder

With the arrival of its new executive chef, Oliver Gift, Lowcountry, the West Village restaurant specializing in the comfort food of the American South, has revamped its food and cocktail menus.

Always bourbon-focused, Lowcountry takes its love for America’s own whiskey to new extremes on the new list. You expect a julep to have bourbon in it, and no one blinks when a Manhattan or Old Fashioned does. And such is indeed the case here.

But Lowcountry’s Sazerac, traditionally a rye cocktail, is also bourbon-based, giving it a milder bite that usual. So are the Dark and Stormy and the sweetish Margarita, with bourbon and Jim Beam’s black cherry-infused bourbon liqueur Red Stag, respectively, kicking out the usual rum and tequila. The house Negroni cuts the bitterness of the Campari by finding room for a little Wild Turkey American Honey, a bourbon-based honey liqueur. And Wild Turkey 81, blood orange and walnut liqueur are the components of something called the Winter Martini. (As of yet, there are no bourbon gimlets.)

As on the previous menu, there is a wide selection of bourbons by the glass, as well as bourbon flights. For $25, you can purchase bourbon pairings for your appetizer, entree and dessert.

“We are a bourbon bar and southern restaurant, and it’s important to us that we stay true to this specialty in our cocktail menu,” explained Chad Harper, Lowcountry’s bar and floor manager. “We offer classic drinks like martinis, margaritas and negronis, that are familiar to customers, but give them our own twist by making them with bourbon because it’s an indigenous American spirit, that’s very popular in the South.”