Whiskey Sherry Cocktail
This Whiskey Sherry Cocktail recipe blends bourbon, sherry, pecan syrup, and lemon for a cozy, nutty fall cocktail you'll love.
Servings: 2
Calories: 153kcal
Equipment
- Mesh strainer (optional but recommended)
- hand-held citrus juicer (optional but recommended)
- cocktail shaker
Ingredients
Pecan Syrup
- ½ cup pecans (60 grams; toasted and lightly chopped)
- ½ cup sugar (100 grams)
- 1 cup water (227 grams)
Whiskey-Sherry Cocktail
- 2.5 ounces bourbon or rye whiskey (70 milliliters/ 5 tablespoons)
- 1.5 ounces sherry (45 milliliters/3 tablespoons)
- 1.5 ounces pecan syrup (45 milliliters/ 3 tablespoons
- 0.5 ounces lemon juice (15 milliliters/1 tablespoon)
- ice
Instructions
Pecan Syrup
- Combine pecans, sugar, and water in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil.
- Simmer over medium-low heat for about 12 minutes, until syrup tastes like pecans. (It will become brown well before this.)
- Strain syrup into a glass jar and chill. Eat pecans or use in a different recipe.
- Store syrup in back of the refrigerator to maximize its shelf life. It should be good for a few weeks.
- Yields: around 227 grams/milliliters of syrup, which is enough for 10 cocktails.
Whiskey-Sherry Cocktail
- Combine whiskey, sherry, pecan syrup, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with 1 cup of ice.
- Shake until cold. My method: shake cocktail for 30 seconds. Set down for a minute, then shake again to be sure everything is well mixed.
- Strain into 2 glasses.
Notes
I sometimes like to have this cocktail with a large ice cube, rather than serving it in a coupe glass.
Always shake this cocktail, rather than stir. Shaking helps combine the syrup and lemon juice with the other ingredients. It aerates the cocktail, enhancing its taste. It also incorporates water into the cocktail, making it more drinkable and allowing you to taste the nuances. In my testing, each cocktail gets 1.5 tablespoons or 45 milliliters of water added during shaking.
This cocktail is equally good with both bourbon and rye whiskies.
When I first made this, I used Amontillado sherry. In 2025, I used a medium dry sherry from California. Manzanilla (lighter) or Oloroso (darker) should also work. Don't use anything too sweet. Store leftover sherry corked in the refrigerator. Drink within a few weeks; after that, use for cooking.
If you don't want to make a pecan syrup, you may use regular simple syrup or maple syrup. Honey would also work but is hard to dissolve in cocktails.
Always use fresh lemon juice in a cocktail, rather than bottled. Bottled lemon juice can sometimes give off flavors to cocktails.
Recipe adapted from the Smoke Signals cocktail. I tried to cut back on the syrup once (too tart) and on the lemon juice (too unbalanced), so I've kept the proportions the same as in the original.
Calorie count calculated in MyNetDiary and is an estimate only, and will vary based on the exact liquors you use and how much your syrup is reduced.
Recipe revised slightly 10/14/2025.
Nutrition
Calories: 153kcal
