Stone Fence
1 Lump of Ice.
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters.
1 Glass Scotch Whisky. (2 oz Suntory Hibiki 12)
Use long tumbler and fill with soda water (Oliver’s Herefordshire Dry Perry).
Soda? Who makes a Stone Fence with Soda? Well, I’ll be damned if I am going to make a Stone Fence with Soda! Unfortunately, I had no traditional Cider in the house, either, so texted Daniel at Alembic to see if he had any. Turned out he only had this rather fancy still Pear Cider, but why not?
The day I was making this cocktail, Alembic was hosting an event with Suntory’s Whiskies. Well, when in Rome…
Great article over at Cask Strength regarding Suntory’s Whiskies:
Suntory’s whiskies are made in a very similar manner to Scotch, in fact, all the malt used in the whisky is imported from Scotland!
However the different casks used, Japanese Oak, and different weather conditions for aging give Suntory’s whiskies a very different character from Scotch Whisky.
Of the several Suntory Whiskies we had available, Daniel picked the Hibiki 12 for the cocktail. It is their youngest blended Whisky.
I really enjoyed this version of the Stone Fence, a drink I could drink. Very dry, mostly flavor coming from the cider, but with the Japanese Whisky poking through. Some who tried it thought it could use a little sweetener, but I’ve never seen a Stone Fence recipe call for sweetener, just Cider and Booze. I did miss the bubbles a tad.
I will have to re-try it with some of my favorite French Ciders, like those from Eric Bordelet or Etienne Dupont. Or for an extra funky beverage, Basque or Asturian Sidra…
And yes, this is a very old recipe. It was probably already a very old recipe when Jerry Thomas included it in his “Bartender’s Guide”.
Though the Thomas recipe is as follows:
Stone Fence.
(Use large bar-glass.)
Take 1 wine-glass of Bourbon or rye whiskey.
2 or 3 small lumps of ice.
Fill up the glass with sweet cider.
Grumble, I suppose “sweet cider” really means apple juice. But what fun is that?
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.