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Not all warm-weather drinks are created equal.

Some spirits feel designed for summer. Pisco comes to mind. Or blanco tequila. Things like cachaça and rum are practically made of sunshine and wait for the first day of summer like school children. Whiskey, meanwhile, is sulking in the corner, and recoils from the sunshine like a vampire. With its richer profile, elevated proof and heavy blanket of oak and spice, whiskey is much more at home in the cold, and the darker the better.

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All of this puts whiskey drinkers in a bit of a dilemma. The weather is getting warmer, and the sun is setting later, and trying to fit whiskey into a pair of flip flops requires a bit of mixological trickery:

One way to do this is with charm—specifically the charm of egg whites, which, as with something like the Whiskey Sour, binds to the oak tannins in the spirit, neutralizing the astringency and making it all smooth as silk. Another way is with fruit, like in the New York Sour—throw a bunch of red fruit at whiskey and it provides a lovely misdirection from the oaky bite. Yet another is with some herbaceousness, to add complexity to the sweet-sour pull and entice the palate, like in the excellent Paper Plane.

Or, you could do literally all three of these in a single drink, which is called Napoleon. The Napoleon is a cocktail that utilizes bourbon, fresh lemon juice, and sugar—very similar to a whiskey sour—infused with fresh raspberries, spiced with blanc vermouth and Campari, and smoothened with an egg white. It radiates a bright, refreshing, fruity, and slightly bitter taste. The drink is characterized by the use of bourbon that accentuates the flavor giving it a summer touch. It starts with a mix of raspberry and lemon with a grainy spice taste of the whiskey, transitioning to blanc vermouth spicing the whiskey’s corn and fruit, and wraps up with Campari that adds a slight bitter taste to the whiskey’s oaky texture.

This innovative concoction, Napoleon, is the creation of Sam Penton from the Manor Bar located in Rosewood Miramar Beach, Montecito, Calif. The bar features concept menus, the latest being one called “Villains” inspired by great antagonists of literature. So, Napoleon is named after the cunning Marxist pig from the renowned George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The Rosewood, positioned near the coast just outside Santa Barbara, operates all year but its coastal location is best for enjoying warm weather, sunlight, and relaxing with refreshing cocktails like the Napoleon. In fact, the Napoleon is a master at making whiskey apt for warm weather. It’s so successful that we might need to change our initial description: Perhaps all warm-weather drinks are made equal, just some tend to be more equal than the rest.

1.5 oz. high-proof bourbon

0.5 oz. blanc vermouth (or “blanco” or “bianco”)

0.75 oz. Simple Syrup

0.75 oz. lemon juice

3-4 fresh raspberries

1 tsp. Campari

1 egg white

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker without ice. Seal the shaker, hold it firmly, and give it a “dry” shake without ice for three to five seconds. Then add ice, seal again, and vigorously shake for eight to 10 seconds. Strain finely into a cocktail or coupe glass, and garnish with a few droplets of Angostura bitters or a raspberry, skewered on a pick.

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS

Bourbon: A cask-strength version of Maker’s Mark, specifically made for the Rosewood Miramar Beach and bottled at 54.1 percent alcohol is the choice of Penton. In my tries, I used 40 percent bourbon, 45, 50, and 55, and found the 55 percent most favorable. Using low-proof makes the drink still great, but the strong and persistent whiskey character is missed. Though Maker’s Mark is delicious, I also liked the rye spice flavor, which Maker’s Mark doesn’t have as it uses wheat instead of rye as a flavoring grain. So if you do not have Rosewood’s unique Maker’s Mark, bourbon brands with high proof and rye-forward like Stellum, Bulleit Cask Strength, Knob Creek, or others would do just fine.

Blanc Vermouth: Most cocktails are made with either “sweet” or “dry” vermouths. In this recipe though, blanc is used, a style that’s light in color like dry vermouth, but rich on the palate like sweet. Dolin is widely used and readily available. I’m particularly a big fan of Yzaguirre Blanco, and also, Cocchi Americano, which while not exactly a blanc vermouth, it functions like one. Any of these would be great.

Raspberry: Penton employs raspberry syrup. It gives a cleaner mix (no pulp in the shaker) and is simpler to use (fresh raspberries rot quickly and maintaining them is a bit of a chore). That said, for recipes like the Clover Club, I love the vivid flavor of fresh berries. So, if you’re just making one or two drinks, forget about the syrup and just toss in fresh berries in the shaker letting the ice to do its job.

Simple Syrup: Equal parts, sugar and water, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Simple.

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