Make a rock & rye your way

In eastern Kentucky, the few banjo players still left play an early 20th-century ballad called “Morphine,” an opioid dream which contains a spectacularly strange line: “It’s peach and honey, rye, Rock and Rye / Baby, I’ll tell you my dream.”

The ballad’s inventory of American vice – morphine, games of chance – pauses twice on the far more salubrious Rock and Rye, a whiskey infusion of citrus, spices, herbs and rock candy syrup historically used as a palliative for colds. In 1882, bartender Harry Johnson prescribed rye, a half-tablespoon of rock candy syrup and lemon juice, saying it “helps to heal sore throats.” Another of his recipes was the brandy-based Peach and Honey, “called for as often as Rock and Rye is now,” suggesting a rapid cross-community transfer of medicinal beverages around that time – cough syrup fit for backwood folk singers and New York bons vivants alike. Today, the boozy tincture is enjoying a resurgent demand for its gentle, Old Fashioned-like flavor.

Fittingly, the cocktail resembles the wildly varied, self-subsuming American musical canon. Whiskey stands in for the plunked, unsubtle notes of early folk and field hollers. Add a touch of Latin rhythm, jazz, zydeco and Hawaiian melody. The recipe became a crazy quilt of cultural emendations – later barkeeps added orange, apricot, cinnamon sticks, tropical fruits and horehound leaf, an herbal cough suppressant.

Bottled varieties, like Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock & Rye, are similarly concocted with an exotic bill of ingredients. Slow & Low appears in the Low Rye-da at Planter’s House, and Leroux Rock & Rye is used in Mission Taco Joint’s Glühwein-like Vino El Invierno cocktail.

By creating my own batch, I could customize the fruit, control sweetness and increase texture. Rock candy syrup, the chemically supersaturated dregs left behind after making rock candy, is less fashionable but more exact than candy-on-a-stick. The syrup process takes time, but it’s worth the effort for the soothing, coating effect it has on the throat. Even rye drinkers free of whooping cough will enjoy Rock and Rye’s warm sweetness cut by the citrus and the 100-proof bite of whiskey. Pour it over ice, sip and porch-sit.

Rock and Rye
12 servings

1 750-ml. bottle Rittenhouse bonded rye whiskey
2 wheels lemon
2 wheels blood orange
1 1-inch-thick ring pineapple
1 kumquat, halved (optional)
1 slice persimmon (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
3 to 4 whole cloves
1 star anise
Rock candy syrup (recipe follows) or 1 to 2 sticks rock candy
Pinch dried horehound*

• In a large jar or pitcher, combine the whiskey, lemon, blood orange, pineapple, kumquat and persimmon (if using), cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise and rock candy syrup. Let steep at least 24 hours, occasionally stirring or shaking gently.
• Using a tea ball, steep the horehound in the whiskey mixture no more than 1 hour. Remove the tea ball and the solids from the liquid and discard, then strain the liquid into a clean jar through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth.
• Pour 2 ounces into a glass over ice and serve.

* Available at Cheryl’s Herbs, 7170A Manchester Road, St. Louis, 314.645.2165

Rock candy syrup
1 quart

• Fill a 1-quart mason jar about ¹∕³ full with distilled water. Place the jar in a small saucepan filled with water over medium heat. Bring the water to a simmer and add 1 cup sugar to the jar, stirring constantly, until dissolved. Add another 1 cup sugar, stir to dissolve, and repeat until the syrup reaches the top of the mason jar. The liquid will be about 1-to-3 parts water to sugar.
• Remove the jar from heat, cover loosely and let cool overnight.