Some artists don't fit the mold. They crumple it, fire it, and sell it with a grin. They take a perfectly “nice” life, toss it into the Caribbean, and see what survives. They age bourbon twice because… honestly, why stop at one oak-induced personality makeover?
Tonight’s pairing is The Artist’s Journey: a “Double Oak” Old Fashioned (powered by Whiskey Barrel Aged coffee from FB Roasters) alongside George Ohr (The Mad Potter) and Ernest Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream. You’ve got clay that looks like it shouldn’t hold together (but does) and a painter, Thomas Hudson, trying to keep his life from doing the exact opposite.
Glass in hand. Book cracked open. Let the oak, the heat, and the salt air do what they do best: change everything without asking permission.
The Cocktail: Doubling Down on Depth
The Old Fashioned has been around since the 1800s. Bourbon, sugar, bitters, water. Stirred. Done. It's the cocktail equivalent of a white T-shirt, timeless, essential, and easy to screw up if you overthink it. But when you start with a bourbon that's been aged twice, first in new charred oak, then in a second barrel that deepens the char and sweetness, you're working with a spirit that already has something to say.
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is the classic choice here. Jim Beam Double Oak works too. Both go through that second barrel, which pulls out richer caramel, toasted oak, and a smoothness that feels like velvet. The traditional Old Fashioned uses a sugar cube or simple syrup. We're going one step further.
Making Whiskey Barrel Aged Coffee Syrup
Grab a bag of Whiskey Barrel Aged coffee. Brew it strong, French press, pour-over, whatever gets you a concentrated cup. You want about 1 cup of brewed coffee. In a small saucepan, combine that cup of coffee with 1 cup of granulated sugar. Heat it on medium, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly, then pull it off the heat and let it cool. Store it in a jar in your fridge. It'll keep for a couple weeks, and you'll use it in everything, pancakes, ice cream, more cocktails.
For the drink itself:
- 2 oz Bourbon (Double Oaked if you can swing it)
- 0.5 oz Whiskey Barrel Aged coffee syrup
- 2 dashes Orange Bitters
Combine all three in a mixing glass with ice. Stir for about 30 seconds, you want it cold and slightly diluted, not watery. Strain it into a rocks glass over one large ice cube. Garnish with an orange twist (express the oils over the drink first, then drop it in) and a maraschino cherry if you're feeling traditional.
The result tastes like sitting in a library made of oak barrels. It's smoky, sweet, a little bitter, and completely grounding. The coffee syrup doesn't make it taste like coffee, it makes it taste like the idea of coffee. Like warmth. Like a second chance at something good.
George Ohr: The Mad Potter of Biloxi
George Ohr worked out of Biloxi, Mississippi, in the late 1800s and early 1900s and decided “normal” was a suggestion, not a rule. Thin walls. Crumpled rims. Twisted forms. Loud glazes. Plus an iconic, eccentric, big-mustache persona that basically says: yes, I meant to do that.
Ohr’s pottery looks like it shouldn’t survive the kiln. It does anyway. That’s the whole point. Craft as refusal. Clay pushed past “good” into “you sure about that?” territory.
Ernest Hemingway: Islands in the Stream (and Thomas Hudson’s Caribbean detour)
In Islands in the Stream, Hemingway gives us Thomas Hudson—an artist living in the Caribbean with beauty all around him and grief he can’t paint his way out of. It’s sun, salt, and heartbreak. It’s also the artist’s journey in the least Pinterest-y way possible: not “find your muse,” more “hold yourself together while the tide keeps coming in.”
The Artist’s Journey: Ohr’s kiln heat Hudson’s sea salt
Ohr: bend the form until it looks impossible keep going anyway.
Hudson: love loss survival keep going anyway.
Same energy. Different materials. Clay vs. ocean air. Both demand patience. Both punish shortcuts. Both reward people stubborn enough to finish the piece.
Why This Works
Double oak bourbon double oak coffee barrel notes
Ohr pottery heat risk audacity
Hudson Caribbean light grief distance
Same mood layered dark sweet bite
How to Spend the Evening
MAKE COFFEE SYRUP BREW WHISKEY BARREL AGED COFFEE SIMMER SUGAR COOL
BUILD DOUBLE OAK OLD FASHIONED STIR STRAIN ORANGE TWIST
OPEN ISLANDS IN THE STREAM FOLLOW THOMAS HUDSON INTO THE HEAT
LOOK UP GEORGE OHR FIND THE MUSTACHE FIND THE CRUMPLE FIND THE NERVE
Must be 21 and over. Please drink responsibly. If you or someone you know needs help, contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 (24/7, free, confidential).