The Seasonal Trader Joe's Butter Your Bourbon Cocktails Need

Trader Joe's has quite the fall lineup, and there's more to it than pumpkin and cranberry flavored food and drink. Trader Joe's Butter with Brown Sugar and Maple Syrup is a salted compound butter that you can take in sweet and savory directions. It's also the ingredient that you should add to your next bourbon cocktail.

Brown sugar and maple syrup are among bourbon's most common tasting notes, so this butter will only enhance its natural flavors. Plus, both of these popular sweeteners can be a substitute for the typical cube of sugar in a classic old fashioned recipe. Butter will elevate many cocktails by instilling a smooth, luxurious mouthfeel and an underlying dairy richness that's befitting of a warming fall and winter season alcoholic beverage.

The best way to incorporate Trader Joe's sugar and syrup butter into your next bourbon cocktail is to infuse it into the bourbon itself through a method called fat washing. Fat washing does require a bit of prep time. Start by browning the Trader Joe's butter, which benefits the butter as much as it benefits the bourbon by bringing even more complex toasty, caramelized nuttiness to the flavor. Then infuse the brown butter into some bourbon, refrigerating it for a few hours (or even days) until the butter solidifies. Then skim off the solids and discard, and strain any excess fat that solidifies and separates. Your bourbon will be left with distinctly buttery and fall-flavored notes.

While fat washing bourbon usually calls for plain, unsalted butter, Trader Joe's Brown Sugar and Maple Butter is a more complex option. The salted butter balances the sweetness of the maple and brown sugar while also enhancing their distinct floral and molasses tasting notes. 

This addition will sweeten the spirit in question, but you might still need to supplement with more sweetener depending on the cocktail. A brown sugar and maple butter washed old fashioned with bitters, for example, might need half the amount of sugar as you'd find in a classic old fashioned. You could make the cocktail even more seasonal by swapping sugar for this Torani Brown Sugar Cinnamon Syrup or a dash of maple syrup. You could also add a brown sugar and maple butter washed bourbon to fall-inspired whiskey sours that use orange or grapefruit juice. A ginger or spice-infused apple cider would likewise benefit from the sweet and savory butter-washed bourbon.

Another great option is to swap Irish whiskey for Kentucky bourbon washed with maple and brown sugar butter to blend with Baileys or Kahlua in a spiked coffee cocktail. Butter-washed bourbon would also take a warm and cozy hot toddy recipe to new and luxurious heights.