Basically the same as the Brandy Crusta but with the base spirit switched out. The main reason I’m posting this one separately is so that I can show you how pretty the drink looked back when it was on the regular menu at Seven Grand.

Bourbon Crusta

2 ounces Bourbon whiskey.
1/2 ounce Cointreau (or other triple sec).
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur.
1/2 ounce lemon juice.
2 dashes orange bitters.

Shake ingredients with ice and pour into a glass that’s been prepared with a sugared rim. Strain into the glass, and place a whole lemon peel around the rim of the glass.

This is the Crusta recipe that’s been going around these days, but I like to reduce the liqueurs a bit, maybe just a teaspoon of maraschino and 2 teaspoons of Cointreau to make it a bit drier, but it’s a good drink in either proportion. Incidentally, the recipe called for in Jerry Thomas’ How to Mix Drinks called for only a teaspoon of lemon juice, a half-teaspoon of curaçao and no maraschino at all.

We sipped, and enjoyed, and I said it again. “We’re drinking Crustas. In a bar. In Los Angeles. (In mid-2007, this was unheard-of, and the beginning of an amazing cocktail renaissance in the City of Angels.)