Smoke On The Water Recipe

Muddle cherries

Place the 2 pitted fresh cherries in a chilled mixing glass. Add the simple syrup and gently muddle 6–8 times to release juices without pulverizing the fruit — you want extract and texture, not a paste.

Add spirits & bitters

Add Jefferson's Ocean bourbon (2 oz), creme de cacao (1/2 oz), amaro (1/2 oz), and maraschino liqueur (1/4 oz, optional) to the muddled cherries. Add 2 dashes cherry bitters and 1 dash chocolate bitters.

Fill the mixing glass with ice and stir gently for 20–30 seconds (about 20–30 full turns) until the cocktail is well-chilled and slightly diluted. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a rocks glass over a single large ice cube to remove cherry solids and achieve a clean texture.

Prepare smoke

Place the strained cocktail in the rocks glass nearby a heatproof surface. Put a small metal smoking tin or a piece of foil on a heatproof dish and scatter a small pinch of dry cherry wood chips on it. Using a culinary torch or smoking gun, ignite the chips briefly until they start to smolder and produce smoke. If using a torch, blow out the flame so chips smolder.

Capture smoke

Invert a coupe lid, metal tin, or a large glass over the smoking chips to capture smoke for 10–15 seconds, then quickly invert that smoking vessel over the prepared cocktail glass to trap the smoke around the drink. Allow the smoke to infuse the surface for 12–20 seconds, then lift the lid to release a short plume and serve immediately.

Garnish & aromatic express

Express the orange peel over the glass by holding it skin-side down and giving it a firm twist to release oils, then rim the glass with the peel and drop it in. Spear the large cocktail cherry and rest it on the edge or on a pick across the glass. Optionally place a small smoldering chip on a metal skewer for a dramatic presentation and extinguish before serving.

Present immediately so the drinker experiences the smoked aroma up front. Sip slowly to appreciate the interplay of saline-tinged barrel character from Jefferson's Ocean, bittersweet chocolate, cherry fruit, and the soft bitter herbal note of the amaro.