What to mix with bourbon starts with eight reliable mixers: sugar + bitters, sweet vermouth, lemon juice, honey syrup, mint, ginger ale, Coca-Cola, and Aperol + Amaro Nonino. Below: each mixer with the cocktail it builds, plus six bourbon-forward cellar picks.
Bourbon is corn-forward. Sweet, slightly oaked, lower in spice than rye. That sweetness is what makes it forgive almost any mixer you throw at it. Below: eight bourbon mixers ranked from most to least bartender-default.
What to pour first.
Six cellar picks featuring bourbon:
Common questions.
What's the best mixer for bourbon?
Sugar and bitters with a splash of water. The Old Fashioned. Beyond that: lemon and simple syrup (Whiskey Sour), lemon and honey (Gold Rush), or sweet vermouth and Campari (Boulevardier). Each builds a different American classic.
What can I mix with bourbon and lemon?
Honey syrup makes a Gold Rush. Simple syrup makes a Whiskey Sour. Mint and crushed ice makes a Whiskey Smash. Aperol and Amaro Nonino with the lemon makes a Paper Plane. All four are cocktail-bar canon.
Is bourbon the same as whiskey?
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey. By US law, bourbon must be made in America, distilled from at least 51 percent corn, aged in new charred oak barrels. So all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Scotch, rye, Irish whiskey, and Japanese whisky are separate categories.
Can I substitute rye for bourbon in cocktails?
Yes, but the cocktail will taste sharper and drier. Rye is grain-spicier, less sweet. The Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Sazerac were all originally rye drinks. The Whiskey Sour, Mint Julep, and Whiskey Smash work with either.