This whiskey cocktail became popular in Japan - The HUNTER

This cocktail was rediscovered and made popular by a guy in Japan, but actually it's over 100 years old. I'm going to show you three ways to make it. The original way, the modern way, and my way. I have made a grave mistake. This is the Hunter cocktail. To the bar. This is a very interesting cocktail. I've had some requests on the channel to do this one before. I haven't had it that many times, but I'm rather intrigued by it because it is popular among small circles and even reputable sources say the origins of this cocktail are unknown. We know nothing about it until it was made popular around 2010. It turns out you can find pretty easily first record of this cocktail. Now, we don't know who created it, but first print of the drink was in 1908 in a book called and it's a two ingredient cocktail in there. It says 75% rye and 25% cherry brandy. Then when they say cherry brandy back then they're referring to a cherry liqueur and it's not the only place it shows up. It pops up in other cocktail books. In fact, it's in the Cafe Royal cocktail book, although the measurements are a little bit different, but still it's just two ingredients, a very simple drink. Fast forward to 2010 ish. This cocktail is brought into the public eye over in Tokyo. Actually, Tokyo would be no this way. I don't know which way Tokyo is. In Tokyo, Japan around 2010 at bar high five, it was made popular by Hidetsugu Ueno or if you're in Japan, it'd be Ueno Hidetsugu San, which is awesome. That's great. But he made a couple of changes. One is he swapped out that rye whiskey with bourbon that we know and he's using cherry hearing as the cherry liqueur, the cherry brandy, which I imagine is what was used in the original recipe. Now everybody says, well, the Hunter cocktail, this great drink is made with bourbon whiskey, cherry hearing, maraschino liqueur, and orange bitters. So it's quite different from the original. And I don't know who was actually the first person to bring in the other liqueur and the bitters, but it doesn't really matter. That's what's considered the Hunter cocktail today. But it looks very different than the original, the simple early original. I like the simple drinks. You know, you think of a rusty nail, a godfather, they're just so easy to throw together. So today I'm going to make the original specs of the cocktail and taste that up against the more modern specs that has the addition of the maraschino liqueur and the bitters. And then of course, I'm going to make my version of it. So how the booze. Today's video is sponsored by Original Grain. Original Grain makes rugged and unique watches from reclaimed materials like Jack Daniel's whiskey barrels, Taylor Guitar tonewood, military ammo crates, and more. They use quality Japanese movements and donate proceeds to planting trees and helping veterans with PTSD. So you're not just buying a watch, you're backing a mission. 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So if you're getting that gift for somebody else, you might as well pick up a watch for yourself. That's how I roll. I don't buy gifts for people. I just buy gifts for me. Thank you, Original Grain. Onto the film. To make the Original Hunter cocktail, we'll need rye whiskey and cherry herring. That is it for the rye whiskey, the base. I like a hunter proof because it's going to hold up to the richness of the cherry herring. As for the cherry liqueur, cherry herring is going to be the go-to. So with that, let's build. So we are going to serve this up. Get your glassware chilled and I'm going to make this a small one because we're just sipping on it. We were told in the cherry brandy. We can really scale that up or down really easily. So let's start with the rye whiskey. One and a half ounces of rye whiskey and half an ounce of the cherry herring. Pretty easy. Add ice and stir. Strain off into a chilled glass. There it is. The Original Hunter. So I'm going to give this a quick taste and then we'll move on to the modern version. Cheers. Oh, that's really good. Oh, that's really nice. With the rye, the rye has a nice spice. You definitely get the richness from the cherry liqueur and that the spicy rye holds up to it. So it's a nice balance. I got to say, I don't really know that you need to tweak this cocktail much at all because it's already a delight and easy to make. When I first came across the recipe, I was under the assumption that this was a bourbon cocktail. So when I had my first Hunter, I had it with bourbon. My understanding is that Ueno's version is the bourbon version. Personally, I like the rye simply because that spice cuts right through the richness, the sweetness of the cherry herring. Of course, I don't know Ueno's specs. This is my preference. You do you. Ueno-san, I'm sorry. On to the next recipe. Somewhere along the line, the specs changed and we get more ingredients added to it. So now, let's move on to the modern recipe. I'm going to take the original ingredients here. We are going to swap out the rye whiskey with bourbon. We are also going to add maraschino liqueur and orange bitters. So let's make it. We're going to do a full two and a half ounces of bourbon. That's a good amount of bourbon for the drink. So I'm not going with a super high proof whiskey for this. One and a half, two and a half. And if you were to compare the bourbon with the rye, the bourbon is going to be a bit richer, a little sweeter. Okay, half an ounce of cherry herring. Go quarter ounce of the maraschino liqueur. Also made using cherries, but very different. Not a substitute at all. And then three dashes of orange bitters. Add ice and stir. And this is the one everybody raves about. I don't even know that they tried the original. All right, grab your glass. Strain off the cocktail. And this one gets garnished with a cherry. There we go. Just like that. There we have the modern Hunter cocktail. Cheers. Okay. Honestly, truthfully, this to me is a completely different cocktail. There's only a quarter ounce of the maraschino liqueur in there, but that's what I get first and foremost. There is a richer, just kind of vanilla, oaky bourbon. The orange bitters is nice too. It's a very nice cocktail. I actually taste probably the cherry herring the least, but yeah, man, I would almost say night and day. They're very different. Maybe not night and day, but like evening and night. So as you can see, there has been quite an evolutionary leap that has happened between these two cocktails. And in the spirit of yet another new take, I have created my own version of the Hunter cocktail, but I'm calling it something different. So I give you the Huntsman. It's not that different, but it is different. This is a little awkward. It's Anders from the future. I have made a grave mistake. I am currently looking at the bar high five menu and they have a drink on there called Huntsman. It's bourbon, chambord and orange bitters. I'm sure it's wonderful, but I assure you, I had no idea when I named my cocktail. So I hope all of you go to bar high five and try the Huntsman and I hope you still try mine. And again, I am sorry to high five bar. So that's that. The Huntsman. So for that, we're going to go back to the original recipe with rye, the cherry brandy and Benedictine. These are the three ingredients we're going to need. What am I doing here? What I wanted to create here was based off of the original recipe. I wanted to drink a little bit more like a rusty nail. You know, this is the time of year where I really like a rusty nail. I like a godfather. I like something on a big cube that has some, some sweetness to it, but some herbal component. Really, if you, if, uh, if you really want to just take a brief moment and nerd out with me a little bit here, I am using the same ratios that you'll find in the cafe Royal cocktail book, which is two parts spirit, one part liqueur. The only difference is I'm splitting the liqueur between the cherry herring and the Benedictine. So it's pretty straightforward, pretty simple. Also how I like to drink my, um, rusty nail. Okay. So let's start with the booze. We got two ounces of rye whiskey to that, by the way, rye whiskey. I think rye is cool. I feel like, you know, everybody likes a, you know, bourbon is like the cool kid on the block and, and like a Petey scotch and all this stuff, but nobody's, nobody talks about rye. And I feel like rye whiskey, if you're into cocktails, you gotta have a lot of it. In fact, I need to pick up some more bottles. And if you need to pick up some bottles, you know where to go. House of bitter bears. That's right. Now let's go move right on to the liqueurs. Half an ounce of cherry herring. Finally, half ounce of Benedictine. Benedictine. Yeah. Benedictine. So you look at this and you think, well, that's a full ounce of liqueur. Well, that's true, but we're going to strain this off onto a large cube so it can slowly dilute. This is one that we can sip over time. Add ice and stir. It's almost Thanksgiving here in the States. And when I was grabbing the ingredients for this cocktail, I wanted to use wild turkey 101 rye for this cocktail because of Thanksgiving turkey. And I thought it would be like a little Easter egg thing that you guys could freak out about. But I only had a very little bit of the wild turkey 101. So that also works well in this drink. Man, I got to tell you, I'm making a lot of noise here as I stir this. Clanky, clanky. That's not what you want when you're stirring a cocktail. It should be silent. Good enough. Good enough. Get her done. We are going to serve this one on a big cube. If you don't have a big cube, consider making one. But if you've already gone this far, just pour it on the rocks. That's fine, too. It's my cocktail, so I'm fine putting my hands on it. I bet you can use ice tongs if you'd like. Here we go. The beautiful cinematic part. I'm going to express orange oil across the top. The orange, you know, it gives it like a nice warmth that I like. Hit the sides. Discard. And there we have the Huntsman. Cheers. Asma, would you like to join me for this last one? Finally. Hello. Hello. Hello. All right. Okay. Welcome. Oh, thank you. So we've got a little lineup for you. Why don't you go chronologically? Okay. So we'll start with the 1908. Well, I'm super jazzed about this. Oh, it smells good. That is pleasant. It's good, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. It's warm. It's like room temperature now. But even then, even so. Right. It's delightful. You know, obviously there's a richness from the cherry brandy, the cherry liqueur. But I think if you're a Manhattan drinker, you'll enjoy this. So keep that in mind. And here we have the. Can I keep going? Yeah. A modern recipe for the Hunter. Okay. Modern day Hunter of today. Oh, different. It's good, though. I don't know if I'm making this up, but it's like a caramely quality to it. Oh, could be like the toastiness from the oak and the bourbon. Oh, maybe. Maybe because of the bourbon. All right. And finally, hey, the Huntsman. Okay. This is looks delicious as well. Cheers, everyone. Oh, it's good. Yeah. Okay. Good. Good. Good. It's good. Yeah. I haven't tasted it. This is a this is a yummy like after dinner sipper. Is it too sweet? No. Like you said, if you like a rusty nail, I think you're going to be chill with this. Yeah. And I will say I'm heavily biased. I'm not an objective. You know, I'm not being objective right now. Also, this isn't fair because these two are warm and this is the freshest one. And it's cold. That's true. Oh, no, I think that's great. It's good. It's really good. This is really nice. In fact, it's not like an overly cherry flavor. You get a lot of the herbal, the kind of a honey sweetness after dinner drink. This is the perfect time of year for it. I really hope that everybody starts making this. All right. So the Hunter, have you heard of it? Do you make it? Have you been to high five? Have you? Yeah. Have you been to high five? Yeah. In Tokyo. We've never been. We went to Gen Yamamoto's. She's outstanding. Outstanding. I want to go back. Let me know in the comments down below if you have a preference, if you already know of the Hunter and you have a go-to recipe. Ueno-san, thank you for bringing the Hunter back into the modern day spotlight. Thank you, Original Grain, for sponsoring today's film. Ueno-san, itadakimasu. Itadakimasu. See you next time. See you next time. Cheers!