Your Espresso Martinis Are Good, But Bourbon Makes Them Better

The espresso martini has risen out of its nostalgic, late '80s and early '90s obscurity and back into the limelight, with a rapid increase in consumer demand since people began emerging from their homes after the pandemic shutdowns. Although the vodka, coffee liqueur, and simple syrup cocktail is delicious in its own right, swapping neutral-flavored vodka for bourbon, with its sweet notes of caramel and vanilla, balances out the bitter espresso, giving the popular martini a whole new dimension.

One of the most popular origin stories for the espresso martini circles around Dick Bradsell, a British bartender in Soho, London, who claims he created the cocktail sometime in the late '80s at the request of a famous model. Vodka was wildly popular at the time, along with the emergence of Absolut, so naturally a vodka-based, coffee martini makes sense. But when it comes to pairing liquor with coffee, it's hard to beat bourbon.

Born in Kentucky, bourbon is distilled from a "mash bill" composed of grain, yeast, and water. Though corn is a common grain option, some bourbons also blend in rye, barley or wheat, the "high rye" variety being the sweetest of the bunch. While vanilla, caramel, and oak (from aging in oak barrels) are the most common flavors discerned, sometimes spicy or floral notes are detected depending upon the mash bill.

This rich, complex flavor in bourbon works exceedingly well in any coffee-based cocktail mashup including a Bourbon Espresso Old Fashioned, a Mexican Carajillo with the citrusy spiced Licor 43, or even another '80s classic, the Mudslide. With its subtle sweetness and rich flavor, bourbon will smooth out espresso's acidity, while adding a whole new depth of flavor to espresso-forward cocktails. Ask your favorite bartender to swap bourbon into your next espresso martini and just taste the difference.