Last week’s College Football Cocktail was an ode to Nebraska-Rutgers. True to form, it was absolutely terrible and I recommend it to no one.
This week, we’re getting back on track with a game that makes roughly as much sense as a rivalry between New Jersey and Nebraska. Behold, the first ever football game between Brigham Young University and the University of Arkansas.
Like Wisconsin in 2017, this matchup will drop thousands of hard-drinking, tailgate-heavy fans into a college town that, as of five years ago, only had two official bars within city limits. That’s may make it tough for the most dedicated Razorback fans to pre-game up to their standard. It also presents an opportunity.
Over the summer, the rising trend of Utah’s specialty soda shops became a thing across the country. The Beehive State’s “dirty sodas” or “sodies” had exploded in popularity following the Church of Latter Day Saints’ announcement that while hot caffeinated beverages remained verboten in Mormon code, cold caffeinated beverages were fine. These mixes are basically just 40 ounce sodas mixed with flavored syrups or coffee creamers and they were, for the most part, not bad.
But they got a little better when you put booze in them. So that’s what we’re gonna do for all the fine, non-teetotaling folks making the trip west.
The Sodie Country Razorback
- 3 oz Brother’s Bond bourbon
- 9 oz Sunkist orange soda
- ice
- 1 oz Coffee-mate Italian Sweet Creme creamer
Orange and vodka is normally a can’t miss combination, but there’s nothing especially Arkansas about that. Instead, I opted for the much more southern feel of a bourbon. Ideally you’d want to use something aged long enough to have soaked up some of the vanilla flavors of its oak barrel. But that runs you into the problem of using a properly aged, delicious bourbon as a mixer.
Normally I might throw Old Forester in there, but I just came into possession of a bottle of Brother’s Bond, the official bourbon of that one guy from Lost which also happens to be from Arkansas (the alcohol, not Ian Somerhalder). It promises me it’s hand selected and aged and, well, that’s enough to get me to use it for this very stupid, potentially delicious drink instead.
Between the orange, creamer and bourbon this fills out the glass like a melted creamsicle. It tastes just like it looks, with a little boozy whiskey popping up at the end but never overwhelming the sweet orange flavor. It’s very well balanced; not so sweet as to be dangerous, not so boozy that it’s overpowering.
Do I feel stupid drinking this? A little! Does it taste great? Absolutely! Last week I concocted a red beer nightmare that may have shaved months off my life. This feels like the booze gods rewarding me for my persistence.
Well, we know now Brother’s Bond makes a very good mixing bourbon. Let’s see how it stands up on its own:
Brother’s Bond: a whiskey for handsomes, by handsomes: B-
Like I mentioned, this is celebrity booze; it was founded by two guys from the Vampire Diaries, Somerhalder and Paul Wesley which means this is effectively a CW-branded spirit. Wild.
Well, this is an extremely easy to drink bourbon. You get a little bit of the corn up front, but there’s no burn. no harshness. Brother’s Bond leaves a lingering aftertaste that’s warm but not spicy and a little malty.
It’s not especially complex or intricate. This is just a very smooth whiskey that isn’t much on its own but isn’t a problem as an all-day drinker. As a mixer that’s just about perfect. In a rocks glass it’s perfectly reasonable.
It’s not exactly high praise, but it doesn’t taste like much, and that’s OK. I like it just fine.