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Anthony: Welcome to the Art of the Drink podcast, my name is Anthony Caporale. Joining us for July, we have a new drink art girl, Melissa. How are you doing honey?

Melissa: I am good how are you?

Anthony: Good, thanks for coming.

Melissa: I am glad to be here, thanks for having me.

Anthony: We are going to kick July of obviously with the biggest holiday of the summer, July 4th right. Okay, so I was trying to think what would we do for July? We could do red, white and blue shooters, we can do all kind of stuff but after thinking about it, I decided let us go with America’s national liquor, which is Bourbon. Bourbon, America’s contribution to the whisky family, originally form Bourbon County Kentucky you can make it anywhere in the United States now but originally from Bourbon County and we are going to make the most classic bourbon drink that you can possibly make called bourbon and branch.

Bourbon and branch water is full name of the drink and branch water is just water from a stream, does not come out on the tap, it does not have chlorine, it does not have fluoride, it comes right from the stream and usually, the stream that distillery uses to make the bourbon. So it matches the bourbon, it is beautiful.

The only thing that we really need to do to make this drink other than get a great bourbon is to find branch water or something that substitutes for branch water. So if you do not have a stream by your house, you can use water from the tap and make sure you let it stiff for about 24 hours so the chlorine evaporates, alright. Or you can go to super market and get good quality spring waters as long as it says it is not processed with chlorine or any chemicals.

Then you want to make your ice cubes from that water too. Because otherwise if you use regular ice cubes, it is going to have tap water.

Melissa: And melt.

Anthony: Exactly, so the first thing we do, fill the glass up with our fresh ice cubes made from our branch water. Then chill out the favorite bourbon and my favorite bourbon in the whole wild world is Maker’s Mark I do not think you can beat it for money but certainly not for the price and we are going to do two ounces of bourbon in the glass. And like I said, simple as it comes, fill it up with our branch water and because we never serve it on mix drink, I am just going to roll in into the tin, swirl it around and roll it back out again. Bourbon and branch water and for those James Bond fans out there, a little bit of trivia, everybody knows James Bond drinks martinis before martinis, that is what he drank, if you read the books Live and Let Die, that is what he drinks see the whole book,want to make one?

Melissa: Sure.

Anthony: Alright.

Melissa: I am ready, so I got one glass full ice here.

Anthony: And again, for those who subscribes to podcast, you know it is very important, always full your glass all your ice, make sure to drink it at the right temperature and make sure you have the right amount of each ingredient.

Melissa: Okay.

Anthony: Beautiful.

Melissa: I am ready. Maker’s Mark, the best bourbon to use.

Anthony: Yes it is. Few ounces, nice big pour, beautiful, fantastic pour Melissa.

Melissa: Branch water.

Anthony: Branch water.

Melissa: It have to be branch water.

Anthony: It sounds simple but sometimes the simple things are the best.

Melissa: Give a little roll here.

Anthony: Beautiful.

Melissa: And top it of with a straw.

Anthony: You got it.

Melissa: Cannot forget about that.

Anthony: Salute, happy 4th this July.

Melissa: Happy July 4th. Maker’s Mark the best bourbon to use.

Anthony: For more information for the art of making drinks, be sure to visit us in the web at artofthedrink.com.