Red, White Pike and Blue

By Julia Ritz Toffoli

For year-round whiskey drinkers, the summer tends to pose a bit of a challenge. We want to keep drinking whiskey, but our winter favorites—like Manhattans and Old Fashioneds—don’t complement the heat very well, and stirred drinks are bit labor intensive if you’re making batches of cocktails for a BBQ or summer fête.

With the Fourth of July coming up, I wanted to come up with a cocktail for Women Who Whiskey that would keep whiskey in the rotation, but wouldn’t clash too much with a classic cookout menu. Plus I wanted it to be easy!

Enter the White Pike Grapefruit Mule. A twist on a Moscow Mule—traditionally made with vodka and ginger beer—the White Pike Grapefruit Mule substitutes White Pike for vodka, and the citrusy sunniness of grapefruit for the lime.

White Pike Whiskey—a white whiskey made from corn, spelt, and malted wheat, and famously aged no longer than 18 minutes—is the perfect substitution for vodka in this drink. Its light, fresh flavor is reminiscent almost more of a tequila than a traditional whiskey, but it but it holds up in all kinds of whiskey classics, like Manhattans or sours. In this case, it adds a substantive flavor element to the Mule, without altering the structure of the cocktail. And the brightness of the grapefruit gives it a distinctive summer twist.

And best of all, it takes about two seconds to whip up. Even easier? Mix up pitchers of it in advance, so your guests can just pour themselves a drink, without you having to mix individual cocktails every time. To scale up the recipe, mix 1 part White Pike to 4 parts ginger beer, and squeeze in the juice of at least 1-2 grapefruits. You can also float slices of grapefruit in the pitcher or punch bowl, both for decoration and for added flavor.

White Pike Grapefruit Mule

Adapted from White Pike Mule

• 2 ounces of White Pike Whiskey
• Squeeze of fresh grapefruit juice
• Ginger beer
• Grapefruit twist
• Ice

Pour 1.5 ounces of White Pike whiskey over ice in a tumbler or highball glass. Squeeze in fresh grapefruit juice to taste (a quarter to half a grapefruit, depending on how strong you want the grapefruit flavor). Top with ginger beer. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.