I needed a Cameron’s Kick today. For some reason my brain wasn’t fully functioning. Thank God it’s Friday!
The recipe published in Mr. Boston’s 1935 for the Cameron’s Kick can also be discovered in the Savoy Book with one slight tweak… for some reason Leo Cotton switched out Harry’s suggested ingredient, Orgeat, for Orange Bitters. Aside from that discrepancy, both Cameron’s include the same measurements of Irish Whiskey, Scotch Whisky and lemon juice.
As a fellow booze blogger mused about tonight’s cocktail recipe, the ingredients for the Cameron’s Kick seem rather odd. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Irish and Scotch Whisk(e)y but I wasn’t really sure how they would go with lemon juice and orange.
Orgeat is a great addition to the tropical Mai Tai but mixed with Scotch???
As a Scotch devotee, I decided it would probably be a great pairing with the Glenlivet Founders Reserve bottle that is quickly dwindling at home. I hope our local grocery store gets that back in stock soon, we’re almost down to one bottle!
My gut told me that the Orgeat would be better than the Orange Bitters but I wanted to be sure and figured mixing two wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Here are the two recipes we tried:
Harry Craddock’s Savoy Recipe
- 1/2 ounce Glenlivet Founders Reserve Scotch
- 1/2 ounce Hell-Cat Maggie Irish Whiskey
- 1/4 ounce Small Hands Orgeat Syrup
- 1/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
Mr. Boston’s 1935 Recipe:
- 1/2 ounce Glenlivet Founders Reserve Scotch
- 1/2 ounce Hell-Cat Maggie Irish Whiskey
- 1/4 ounce Angostura Orange Bitters
- 1/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
After trying these two side by side, Harry won the contest hands down. As suspected, the large amount of bitters was too much and made the lemon even more tart. I really didn’t care for the Mr. Boston’s recipe so Ryan tried to improve it with 1/4 ounce of Drambuie. It did help, but I still prefer the Savoy version.
Despite my earlier reservations, I really enjoyed the Cameron’s Kick and I’m very glad I decided to try the older version along side the recipe Leo Cotton published. I could see making up another of these soon, perhaps very soon 😉