Pickleback
A Pickleback is two shots taken one after the other: 25ml of whiskey, then straight away 25ml of cold dill pickle brine. The brine’s salt and sourness take over the palate, so the whiskey’s burn seems to stop almost as soon as it starts. Ours uses Irish whiskey, the usual pour, with both glasses chilled. The Bushwick Country Club’s owner, John Roberts, told MEL Magazine that the first one was made at his Brooklyn bar on 12 March 2006. His bartender Reggie Cunningham was eating pickles when a regular asked to drink the brine; they took a shot of Old Crow bourbon first and the brine after. The pickles were McClure’s, made by Bob McClure in an apartment three buildings over, and Roberts says Cunningham insisted on the name pickleback. Irish whiskey, Jameson in particular, became a common pairing as it spread; MEL Magazine has Roberts saying that began with customers from The Rusty Knot, a Manhattan bar. Together the two shots come to about 1.0 UK unit.
Glassware: Shot Glass
Garnish: None
Ingredients
25ml
A smooth Irish whiskey at 40% ABV, the pour most bars use. The first pickleback was Old Crow bourbon, and any whiskey works; a soft one makes the effect most striking.
25ml
From a jar of dill pickles, and cold. The original bar used McClure’s spicy brine. Avoid sweet or bread-and-butter pickles: the sugar blunts the salt and acid.
Instructions
Chill two shot glasses and the brine.
Pour 25ml of whiskey into one glass and 25ml of brine into the other.
Drink the whiskey in one.
Follow straight away with the brine.
Our version
The New York Times’s T Magazine described the first, at the Bushwick Country Club, as Old Crow bourbon with brine from McClure’s spicy dills. Ours uses Irish whiskey, a pour many bars adopted as it spread, at 25ml with 25ml of dill brine.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Take the brine straight after the whiskey, with no pause. The point is to catch the burn while it is still building; leave a gap and you have drunk a shot of whiskey and then a shot of pickle juice. Chill both glasses, and the brine especially. Warm brine tastes mostly of vinegar; cold, it tastes of dill and salt and does its job. Use brine from dill pickles, not sweet or bread-and-butter ones. Sugar in the chaser blunts the salt and the sourness that make it work.
Behind the Pickleback
Flavour Profile
Brooklyn, 2006
The Bushwick Country Club is a bar in Brooklyn, not a golf club. MEL Magazine quotes its owner, John Roberts: on Sunday 12 March 2006 his bartender Reggie Cunningham was eating pickles out of a jar when a regular said she wanted to drink the brine and challenged him to do the same; they did a shot of Old Crow first and followed it with brine. By the Tuesday, regulars were telling Roberts it was called a pickleback, a name he says Cunningham insisted on.
The pickles were McClure’s, which Roberts says Bob McClure started in his apartment three buildings over. T Magazine describes the first pickleback as Old Crow with brine from McClure’s spicy dills.
From Bourbon to Irish
As the shot spread through New York bars, Irish whiskey became a common pour, Jameson in particular; MEL Magazine has Roberts saying the Jameson connection started with a few customers from The Rusty Knot. Its softness suits a drink about removing an edge. Ours uses Irish whiskey; Old Crow, or any bourbon, makes the first version.
The Pickleback, first as MEL Magazine and T Magazine report it, and now
Bushwick Country Club, 2006
- Whiskey
- Old Crow bourbon
- Brine
- McClure’s spicy dill
- UK units
- Not recorded
Ours
- Whiskey
- 25ml Irish whiskey
- Brine
- 25ml dill pickle brine
- UK units
- 1.0
| Version | Whiskey | Brine | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bushwick Country Club, 2006 | Old Crow bourbon | McClure’s spicy dill | Not recorded |
| Ours | 25ml Irish whiskey | 25ml dill pickle brine | 1.0 |
Why It Works
Whiskey’s burn builds for a second or two after it is swallowed. A cold chaser of salt and acid lands while it is still building and takes over the palate, so the heat seems to switch off and the whiskey’s warmth stays.
Salt on a Margarita rim works on a similar idea, softening bitterness and sharpening flavour. Here the salt arrives as a second shot rather than a garnish.
The Brine
Use dill brine, cold. Sweet pickle brine has sugar in it, which blunts the salt and the acid. Spicy brine adds heat; plain dill keeps the chaser clean.
In our experience brine from an opened jar keeps in the fridge for as long as the pickles do. Pour it fresh from the jar for each round rather than leaving it out in shot glasses.
How to Serve It
Two chilled shot glasses side by side, whiskey on the left and brine on the right so the order is plain. Drink the whiskey, then the brine, with no gap between them.
How Strong It Is
With 25ml of whiskey at 40% ABV, a Pickleback is about 1.0 UK unit. The brine adds none, though it makes the whiskey easier to take, and a second round quicker to order.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whiskey (Irish)Irish whiskey is whiskey distilled on the island of Ireland and aged there in wood for three years or longer, and bottled at no less than 40% ABV. The Irish Whiskey technical file names four types, pot still, malt, grain and blended, and the soft blends are what our nine Irish recipes mostly use. The Irish Whiskey technical file calls triple distillation the traditional practice, not a rule, and specifies unpeated malt only for pot still whiskey.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Pickleback?
Who invented the Pickleback?
What whiskey is best for a Pickleback?
How strong is a Pickleback?
Why does pickle brine work after whiskey?
Does the type of pickle matter?
Sources.
Correct as of 18 October 2026.
- MEL Magazine, “The Pickleback Origin Story” (the Bushwick Country Club owner John Roberts’s account: the first pickleback on Sunday 12 March 2006; Reggie Cunningham; a regular; Old Crow; McClure’s pickles from Bob McClure’s apartment three buildings over; Cunningham insisted on the name; the Jameson link began with The Rusty Knot).
- The New York Times, T Magazine, “Case Study: Got Your Pickleback?” (16 March 2010: Cunningham widely credited; Old Crow bourbon with brine from McClure’s spicy dills at the Bushwick Country Club).
- Mental Floss, “A Brief History of the Pickleback Shot” (secondary source: Cunningham, March 2006; pickle brine paired with tequila in Texas and pickles following vodka in Russia before).
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Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 18 October 2026