Sam Ross’s Penicillin, developed when he was bartending at landmark cocktail mecca Milk and Honey, brought new energy to the Whiskey Sour with its addition of ginger and peat smoke. St. George’s Dave Smith, himself no stranger to turning up the volume on a classic, saw Ross’s Scotch-based drink and raised him a genre-bending gin and an American single malt. The Dry Rye Penicillin swaps out the blended Scotch base of the original for a gin built around unaged rye. While the aromatics are different, the richness that makes whiskey so satisfying remains. Smith then replaced the peated whiskey float of the original with Baller American Single Malt Whiskey, which gets its smoke from maple charcoal (and complements the lemon in the drink with notes of ume, a tart Japanese stonefruit.) To mix, add the gin, lemon, simple and ginger to tins filled 3/4 full with ice. Shake for 7 seconds or so, then strain into a tumbler over a large cube of ice. Pour the Baller slowly over a barspoon so it floats, making its aromatics more prominent as you raise the glass to your lips. Garnish with a piece of candied ginger.
