The Best Fruit Juices To Pair With Bourbon

If you pick up a bottle of nice bourbon and have absolutely no idea how to make a cocktail with it, you're not alone. Plenty of folks prefer their bourbon all on its own, sometimes served over ice, but there's nothing wrong with whipping out the mixers and creating something more to your taste. We spoke to Justin Lavenue, master mixologist, co-owner of The Roosevelt Room, and owner/operator of The Eleanor and RoadHaus Mobile Cocktails, who told us that some of bourbon's best pairings come in the form of fruit juices.

According to Lavenue, apple juice should be every bartender's best friend for enhancing a bourbon-focused drink. He says, "Fresh-pressed apple juice is my pick, especially a blend that includes Granny Smith and Honeycrisp," which are among some of the absolute best apple varieties for juicing. "Granny Smith adds the tartness and structure the drink needs, while Honeycrisp brings that crisp, round orchard-fruit sweetness," he adds. Lavenue also notes that "the key is using fresh-pressed juice," rather than something store-bought, since "bourbon already brings vanilla, caramel, oak, baking spice, and a natural corn sweetness, and apple juice fits into that profile beautifully without fighting it."

Beyond apple juice, Lavenue notes that another fruit juice that pairs well with bourbon is fresh strawberry juice, "especially when the strawberries are ripe and naturally bright." He particularly enjoys this pairing because he says "strawberry can make bourbon feel a little juicier and more summery without burying the oak, vanilla, and spice that make bourbon taste like bourbon." Fresh strawberry juice may be a little harder to come by than the sweet bourbon mixer you probably drank as a child, but Lavenue insists that it's worth the struggle. "You get enough acidity to keep the drink lively," he says, "but you also get a red-fruit note that already exists in many bourbons, so the pairing feels both surprising and obvious once you taste it."

Lavenue says he loves to make "bourbon and fresh-pressed apple juice over ice at a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio," since it "works any time of year, requires no bar tools, and is almost impossible to mess up." Lavenue recommends making what some bartenders would call an Apple Bourbon Smash, using "large, high-quality ice, a bourbon with enough proof to stand up to the juice, and fresh apple juice," though you can also add a squeeze of lemon and/or a flavored syrup. For another creative way to use up fresh strawberries, try making a Strawberry Bourbon Smash, which only requires bourbon, lemon juice, strawberries, mint leaves, sugar, and soda water.