How Bourbon Can Take Your Coleslaw To The Next Level

The beauty of coleslaw — well, besides its unique and perfect mash-up of cool, creamy, crunchy, tangy, sweet flavors and textures — is its versatility. Eat it alone as a side, pile it on top of pulled pork sandwiches or burgers, make it the base of a bigger salad; whatever meal you're incorporating coleslaw into, it's going to be even better. But coleslaw is also versatile in how it's made. It comes together pretty easily and its recipe is open to interpretation. That mix of different flavors and textures? You can tinker with it, taking some things out, adding others in, dialing some flavors down and some way up. When it comes to different ways you can make coleslaw, we're devoted fans of sweet coleslaw made with bourbon.

There are lots of variations for boosting coleslaw's flavors, and we love how adding bourbon is such a departure from the classic version's more acidic, vinegar- and mayonnaise-forward profile. With bourbon's essential tasting notes of wood, nuts, vanilla, honey, toffee, molasses, baking spices, and fruits like apple, pear, peach, and fig, the liquor whisks coleslaw into sweeter territory. By mixing it with brown sugar and adding fixings like bacon, this creates a coleslaw that doesn't just complement barbecue food, but that is more compatible with those sweet, sticky qualities. That sweetness provides plenty of room for balancing, too — play with heat and spice, acidity, and herbaceousness.

An easy place to start out incorporating bourbon into your coleslaw is by following that barbecue-inspired path. Jazz up your mayo with a splash of bourbon (one to two tablespoons does the trick), boosting the sweetness with brown sugar, tempering that with the bright acidity of lime juice, and finally adding spice with mustard and heat with chili, garlic, and pepper. Chopped bacon will complement bourbon's smoky character and bring in extra savoriness. Or, you could lean into the autumnal, farm-fresh feel of these elements by mixing bourbon with apple cider vinegar and brown butter, a rich and tangy combo for cabbage's crisp crunch.

To add bourbon to classic homemade coleslaw, combine your mayo with the bourbon and honey, which will match the spirit's sweetness and intensity. For the acidity, try a vinegar with sweeter, deeper character, like that apple cider or red wine vinegar. Or, take inspiration from the bourbon and peach smash cocktail and make a bourbon coleslaw with peach pieces and torn mint. Making coleslaw with apples is another opportunity to emphasize bourbon's complementary notes. Mix-ins like raisins and nuts would effectively further pull out those tasty flavors from the spirit, while adding sweet chewiness and earthy, woody crunch. In particular, dried cranberries and pecans create a Thanksgiving-perfect coleslaw that will be even sweeter and more festive with bourbon.