The Sentimental Texan: A Texas Twist on a Whiskey Cocktail

By Caleb Rhoades

I would love to tell you I created this cocktail after months of painstaking experimentation, surrounded by notebooks, measuring tools and dozens of failed attempts.

That is not what happened.

The Sentimental Texan is my Texas variation on the Sentimental Gentleman, a cocktail traditionally made with blended Scotch, Bénédictine and walnut liqueur. I kept the same basic recipe and substituted a couple of Texas-made ingredients.

So no, I did not reinvent the cocktail. I just gave it a pair of boots and introduced it to mesquite.

Making the Gentleman a Texan

The traditional Sentimental Gentleman combines two ounces of blended Scotch with half an ounce each of Bénédictine and walnut liqueur. It is spirit-forward, herbal, nutty and just sweet enough to make you forget that it is almost entirely alcohol.

For the Sentimental Texan, I replaced the Scotch with Texas Landmark No. 1 Mesquite Smoked Single Malt Whiskey from Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling.

Texas Landmark is an American single malt made with barley smoked over Texas mesquite instead of peat. That makes it a natural fit here. It keeps the malt-whiskey foundation of the original cocktail, but replaces the Scotch-style smoke with something that feels much closer to home.

The mesquite is noticeable without making the drink taste like you licked the inside of a barbecue pit.

Bénédictine remains in the recipe because it already does its job well. The French herbal liqueur adds honeyed sweetness, spice and enough mystery to make you briefly consider looking up what is actually in it. Good luck with that.

For the final ingredient, I replaced the traditional walnut liqueur with Noce Pecan from Revolution Spirits.

Noce Pecan is Revolution Spirits’ Texas interpretation of Italian nocino. It is made by steeping green, unripened Texas pecans in neutral spirit for a year, with fresh lemon peel added during the final six months. The finished liqueur is nutty, herbaceous, slightly bitter and surprisingly bright.

More importantly for our purposes, it is made with pecans. We are in Texas. The math was not especially difficult.

The Sentimental Texan

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Ranger Creek Texas Landmark No. 1 Mesquite Smoked Single Malt Whiskey

• ½ ounce Bénédictine

• ½ ounce Revolution Spirits Noce Pecan

• Lemon peel

Method

Add the Texas Landmark, Bénédictine and Noce Pecan to a mixing glass.

Add ice and stir until chilled and properly diluted. Strain into a chilled coupe.

Express a lemon peel over the surface of the cocktail to release the oils, then use it as a garnish. You can place it carefully along the edge of the glass if presentation matters, or just drop it in. It will taste the same, and the lemon will not be offended.

What Does It Taste Like?

The Sentimental Texan is rich, smoky, nutty and slightly sweet.

Texas Landmark provides the malt, oak and mesquite smoke. Bénédictine adds honey, herbs and warming spice, while Noce Pecan brings earthy pecan flavor and a subtle bitter edge. The lemon oil brightens everything and keeps the drink from becoming too heavy.

Despite containing two liqueurs, it does not drink like a dessert cocktail. The mesquite smoke and the slight bitterness of the Noce keep the sweetness under control.

It is a slow-sipping drink best suited for the end of an evening. It also works nicely after dinner, especially if dinner involved smoked meat—which, statistically speaking, it probably did.

The Stryker Variation

If you cannot find Texas Landmark No. 1, or if you would simply like to conduct a little research of your own, try substituting Stryker Smoked Single Malt Whiskey from Andalusia Whiskey Co.

Stryker is made with malted barley smoked over oak, mesquite and applewood. That combination gives it a broader and somewhat bolder smoke profile. It is also bottled at 100 proof, so it brings a little more muscle to the cocktail.

Use the same measurements:

• 2 ounces Andalusia Stryker

• ½ ounce Bénédictine

• ½ ounce Noce Pecan

• Lemon peel

The Texas Landmark version is a little more restrained and mesquite-forward. Stryker brings more barbecue smoke, along with some darker malt and wood flavors.

In other words, the Landmark version is the gentleman wearing boots. The Stryker version is the same gentleman standing beside the smoker with a beer in his other hand, explaining that the brisket is “almost ready.”

It has been almost ready for three hours.

A Familiar Cocktail with Texas Ingredients

There is a long tradition of cocktails evolving through substitution. Sometimes an ingredient is unavailable. Sometimes a bartender wants to highlight local spirits. Sometimes someone looks at a bottle of pecan liqueur and thinks, “Well, that ought to work.”

In this case, it did.

The Sentimental Texan keeps the structure and character of the Sentimental Gentleman while replacing two of its defining ingredients with spirits made here in Texas. Mesquite-smoked single malt takes the place of blended Scotch, and a Texas pecan liqueur stands in for traditional walnut liqueur.

The result is familiar, but distinctly Texan: smoky, nutty, herbal and strong enough that one is probably sufficient.

Probably.