Nathan Busch, Head Bartender, Sycamore Hills Golf Club
When Nathan Busch, Head Bartender for Sycamore Hills Golf Club, starts crafting a new menu, he first considers base liquors.
“Our membership tends to gravitate towards vodka-, tequila- and bourbon-based cocktails,” he notes. “For this fall menu, I put three vodka-, three tequila-, one gin-, and one whiskey-based cocktails under the signature cocktail menu and four bourbon-based cocktails under our Old Fashioned and Manhattan menu. [Then] I make sure the drinks have flavor profiles that complement the season [while ensuring there aren’t] too many drinks with the same flavors; I want there to be something for everyone. Outside of these guidelines I make for myself, I give myself the freedom to do whatever I want with my menus.”
For the new gin-based cocktail, he started with an herbal pear shrub he’d created a few days prior.
“When I don’t know what exactly I want to create, I usually pace back and forth behind the bar looking at different liquors and liqueurs,” Busch says. “[That’s when] I remembered I had this Rabbit Hole Bespoke Gin, which is fashioned in Kentucky Rye barrels. I had a feeling it would work with the herbal pear shrub, but the drink was going to need more than two components. I grabbed the Drumshanbo Irish Gunpowder Gin because I thought a little bit of it would complement the Rabbit Hole Gin nicely. [Still, it needed] more fall spice, so I grabbed my cinnamon simple syrup—which I always have on hand—and I wrote the recipe.”
When writing a recipe, Busch has a rule of thumb he follows: Any drink served in a coupe or martini glass uses a 2:1 ratio of alcohol to non-alcohol. Mixed drinks on ice use a 1:1 ratio, and Old Fashioneds and Manhattans use a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of alcohol to non-alcohol. The Rabbit Burrow, as his new cocktail would be named, is served in a coupe, so it calls for a 2:1 ratio.
“I knew I wanted to make the Rabbit Hole Gin the base liquor, and I knew I wanted the herbal pear shrub to be prominent,” Busch says. “I wrote the recipe [linked below] then made the drink. I tasted it and thought it was excellent, so I had other members of our team try the drink. … I think one of the most important things to consider when making new drinks is other people’s opinions. Anytime I make something new, I have our servers and managers try the drink for feedback, which is always helpful.”
The drink was a hit among the team, so it made the menu.
“Sometimes I get the recipe perfect on the first try, and other times I don’t,” Busch says. “It’s a trial-and-error process.”
This time, though, he got it on the first try.
Busch describes the flavors of the drink as earthy, herbal, sweet, spiced, floral and smokey, with a silky-smooth mouthfeel and a complex aroma.
“What makes any drink successful to me is its balance, complexity and simplicity,” he says. “You might wonder how something can be complex and simple at the same time. A drink needs to have complexity in its flavor profile and aroma, but it needs to look elegantly simple, and it needs to be simple to make. I believe I achieved all those things with the Rabbit Burrow.”
