How to Make Cocktails with Hudson Whiskey

Updated

Hudson Whiskey's own website publishes complete recipes for cocktails built around its bourbon and rye, including exact measurements and step-by-step instructions. If you already have a bottle of Hudson Bright Lights, Big Bourbon or another Hudson expression, you can make any of the drinks below at home with a shaker, a mixing glass, and a few common bar ingredients. The recipes below come directly from Hudson Whiskey's site.

What you need before you start

  • A Hudson whiskey. The published recipes call specifically for Hudson Bright Lights, Big Bourbon (New York Straight Bourbon, 46% ABV). Other Hudson expressions may work, but the site's recipes name this one.
  • Basic bar tools. A cocktail shaker, a mixing glass, a strainer, and a tumbler or rocks glass.
  • Fresh citrus and sweeteners. The recipes use fresh lemon, honey syrup, and Demerara simple syrup — not shelf-stable substitutes.
  • Ice. Both for shaking/stirring and for serving over fresh ice.

Ca$h 4 Gold

A shaken bourbon sour with lemon and honey.

Ingredients

  • 2 parts Hudson Bright Lights, Big Bourbon
  • 3/4 part fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 part honey syrup

Instructions

  1. Build all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
  2. Shake with ice.
  3. Strain into a tumbler glass over fresh ice.
  4. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

What to expect: a bright, tart drink where the honey rounds off the lemon. Because it's shaken and served over fresh ice, it dilutes gradually — drink it before the ice waters it down too far.

New Money Old Fashioned

A stirred, spirit-forward take on the Old Fashioned.

Ingredients

  • 2 parts Hudson Bright Lights, Big Bourbon
  • 1 bar spoon Demerara simple syrup
  • 1–2 dashes aromatic bitters

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
  2. Stir until well-chilled.
  3. Strain into an Old Fashioned/rocks glass over a large chunk of ice.
  4. Cut a generous slice of orange zest, express the orange oils over the drink, and garnish with the zest.

What to expect: a stronger, less sweet drink than the Ca$h 4 Gold. The large ice chunk melts slowly, so the drink stays cold without getting watery quickly. Expressing the orange zest over the top adds aroma before the first sip.

New York Ryeball

The site lists a third recipe, New York Ryeball, in the same cocktails section. The published excerpt cuts off partway through its ingredient list, so the full measurements and steps aren't available here — check the cocktails page on hudsonwhiskey.com for the complete version.

Practical notes

  • Parts vs. ounces. The recipes use "parts," so you can scale them to any size as long as you keep the ratios. A "part" can be 1 oz, 1.5 oz, or whatever fits your glass.
  • Honey syrup and Demerara syrup are not the same. Honey syrup is honey thinned with water; Demerara syrup is a sugar syrup. Substituting one for the other will change the drink noticeably.
  • Fresh lemon matters. Bottled lemon juice tastes flatter in a shaken sour like the Ca$h 4 Gold.
  • Chill your glass if you can. Both recipes are served over ice, and a pre-chilled glass keeps the drink colder longer.

Where these recipes come from

All three cocktails — Ca$h 4 Gold, New Money Old Fashioned, and New York Ryeball — appear in the cocktails section of Hudson Whiskey's website, alongside the brand's whiskey lineup. Hudson Whiskey describes itself as New York's first whiskey distillery since Prohibition and is fully owned by William Grant & Sons. The site also offers a shop and distillery tours, but the recipes above are the part relevant to mixing drinks at home.