Velvet Burn — Aged Vodka Brandy Sour
What You’ll Need:
A Deer Jimmy’s® bottle filled with vodka and aged on brandy oak chips. After aging: fresh lemon juice, simple syrup or honey, egg white (optional, but highly recommended), ice, and a shaker. Serve in a coupe or rocks glass.
Step One: Turn Vodka into Velvet
Vodka may start out neutral, but give it time on brandy oak and it becomes something else entirely. Warm, round, gently nutty — with just enough grip to hold up in a sour cocktail. After three to five weeks, your vodka will carry hints of dried fruit, toasted almond and mellow spice. It won’t be brandy, but it’ll echo its soul.
Step Two: Build the Creamiest Sour You’ve Ever Had
Into a shaker, pour your aged vodka, fresh lemon juice and just enough sweetness to balance the citrus — honey works wonders here. Add an egg white for that velvety texture, then shake it first without ice to emulsify. Follow up with ice, and shake it hard. Strain into your glass and watch the foam settle like a silk sheet.
Step Three: Feel the Burn Beneath the Softness
Velvet Burn doesn’t hit like a sugary cocktail. It glides in — smooth, citrusy, almost dessert-like — and then leaves a warm, brandy-kissed burn at the finish. The aged vodka provides structure without weight. The oak brings character without bitterness. And the balance? That’s where the magic is. Tart meets soft. Fire meets cream. It’s the kind of cocktail that makes silence fall around the table.
Classic Form, DIY Soul
The sour is one of the oldest cocktails in the book. But when the base spirit is something you aged, it becomes personal. Velvet Burn is about control — of texture, of flavor, of story. You didn’t just shake this up. You built it from wood and time and taste. And now you’re sipping something classic, reborn in your own bottle.
