Suffering Bastard Cocktail
By Robert Hess
The original name for this drink was apparently the Suffering Bar Steward, but as one might expect in a noisy bar after a few drinks, the name gets a little mangled. There are several recipes for this floating about. For mine I turned to one of my favorite sources, Beachbum Berrry's Grog Log, by Jeff Berry.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 Bourbon
1 oz Gin
dash Angostura Bitters
4 oz Ginger Ale
Instructions
Build in a large glass.
Add ice and stir.
Stir to chill and combine.
Garnish with cherry, orange and mint sprig.

Comments
Robert
This looks like adelicious drink! Must give it a try this weekend if I get the chance. There is a difference in the recipe posted and the one in the video, but i assume the video is correct.
Keep on making these video as they are fantastic!
Just a heads-up: The recipe on the left of the screen calls for 3/4 oz. bourbon while the video and trailer call for 1 oz. Also, niether text recipe includes the ginger ale. Not to be a pain in the ass but just letting you know. Thanks for all the great episodes!! I truly enjoy the education…
Is that a “Red Robin” Mai Tai glass being used in the video? The R.R. doesn’t strike me as your kind of watering hole. Keep up the good work!
Ooops, sorry about the recipe mixup. Here is the correct recipe, as shown “in” the video itself:
Suffering Bastard
...and no, those aren’t Red Robin glasses (unless of course RR just happens to be using them as well), but are in fact a somewhat standard Tiki glass.
-Robert
I love those glasses; I have a few of them in different colors. The other side of the glass has a grimacing face instead of a smiling one. That might have suited the “Suffering Bastard”!
hi, loved the drink denfinatly one for the day after. i just wanted to know where you got the glass and where i could possibly purchase one like it. thanks
I was suffering from low bandwidth when I first attempted to watch this, and I didn’t scroll down to see that the recipe included ginger ale, so I decided to make one (using the recipe on the side) while the video was downloading. Except that I found myself sans lime juice (used 3/4 oz. lemon instead, in an attempt to compensate for the tartness) and also without bourbon, I used rye (which for some reason always interchange in cocktails, even though they’re nothing alike). And of course, I didn’t use any ginger ale, because I had no idea. So what did I just drink?
Wow, tried this last night (and the night before and before) and it’s a new favorite! It
I just made a very tasty variant (I think it actually diverges too far to even be considered a variant), where I substituted rye for bourbon, lemon for lime, Marischino for gin, and used a stronger ginger beer, instead of ginger ale. It was tasty!
Blake… sounds like a tasty drink, and agree that this isn’t just a variation, but a brand new drink. I think it deserves a name!
Just mixed up the version in Beachbum Berry’s Remixed, which claims to be Joe Scialom’s original 1942 recipe, printed for the first time:
1 oz gin
1 oz brandy
1/2 oz Rose’s lime
2 dashes Angostura
4 oz ginger beer
Shake everything except ginger beer with ice. Stir in ginger beer and pour unstrained into double old-fashioned glass. Orange slice and mint sprig garnish.
I was skeptical about the Rose’s lime juice, but it turned out great! Really nice balance.
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