Balanced sweet and sour with bourbon to the fore. Some, including my hero David Embury, stipulate making this cocktail with a straight rye whiskey. However...
Wow, great layers present through out. Went with a barrel proof Bourbon and was glad I did. Mine turned out with a fairly dry mouth-feel (which I liked). The Bourbon was prevalent upfront, but it was followed by a great citrus/sweet balance and finishing with a hint of the Orgeat. Highly recommend. I made a second one right after with a barrel proof rye whiskey, and though I like the extra "spiciness" the Rye brings, I agree with you Simon, I prefer the Bourbon version.
Grenadine made with freshly squeezed pomegranate juice is by far my preference for flavour, but as you say, it's a faff to make and doesn't impart much colour to the cocktail.
That's interesting that homemade grenadine gives a more subtle colour. How do you find that it affects the flavour?
Looking at the recipes for homemade grenadine it's difficult to justify the effort of homemade versus the low price and availability of commercial products.
This was very nice but I’m not convinced on Grenadine for 2 reasons. One it’s quite sweet and perhaps needs even less volume. Second it doesn’t give the same colour that the picture shows - I cannot see how any mix of Grenadine would give an Amber colour.
I made the cocktail photographed above cocktail on 14th August 2023, and I can assure you it had 5ml (1/6oz) of grenadine. I use the exact recipe when making cocktails for Dan to photograph - this is my last chance to recheck the recipe before uploading to the site.