Raspberry Lynchburg
The Raspberry Lynchburg is a Lynchburg Lemonade with Chambord taking half the triple sec's measure. Tennessee whiskey, black raspberry liqueur, a little orange, fresh lemon and sparkling lemonade over ice: a long, easy summer highball with a blush on it. The parent drink is Tennessee whiskey, triple sec, lemon and lemonade, named after the town where Jack Daniel's is distilled. This version came out of the UK bar circuit, where the Lynchburg Lemonade became a menu fixture and Chambord was on every back bar anyway. On a good many of those menus the variation now outsells the original. The swap is a halving rather than an addition, and that is the whole discipline of it. Chambord brings its own sugar, so fifteen millilitres of it replaces half the orange liqueur rather than joining it. Get that wrong and the drink stops being a highball and becomes a cordial with whiskey in it.
Glassware: Collins Glass
Garnish: Lemon Wheel fresh and Raspberries
Ingredients
40ml
Charcoal-mellowed before barrelling, which takes an edge off and lets it sit under fruit and lemonade better than a high-rye bourbon would. It is the constant across the whole Lynchburg family.
15ml
Black raspberry with a honeyed depth that fresh berry syrups do not have. Fifteen millilitres colours and rounds the whole glass, and it replaces half the orange rather than joining it.
10ml
Cut to ten millilitres from the parent's full measure, because the Chambord brings sugar of its own. The orange is still doing useful work; it is simply sharing the job now.
20ml
The only real acid in a glass holding two liqueurs and a sweetened mixer. Squeezed to order, and the one ingredient here that cannot be substituted.
90ml
The length, and it is already sweet, which is why the rest of the build is measured tightly. A drier, more citrus-forward lemonade gives the better drink.
Instructions
Fill a collins glass with cubed ice.
Add the whiskey, Chambord, triple sec and lemon juice, and stir briefly.
Top with the sparkling lemonade and stir once more.
Garnish with a lemon wheel and a few fresh raspberries.
Expert Tip
Halve the triple sec rather than adding the Chambord on top. This is the single mistake people make with the drink. Chambord is sweet, and a full measure of orange liqueur alongside a full measure of raspberry liqueur produces something you cannot drink two of on a warm afternoon, which defeats the point of a highball entirely. Use Tennessee whiskey rather than bourbon. Charcoal mellowing before barrelling takes an edge off the spirit, and the result sits under fruit and lemonade better than a high-rye bourbon does. Squeeze the lemon. There is already a lot of sugar in the glass between the two liqueurs and the lemonade, and fresh juice is the only thing bringing real acid to balance it.
Behind the Raspberry Lynchburg
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Lynchburg Lemonade is named after Lynchburg, Tennessee, where Jack Daniel's is distilled, and it is essentially a whiskey highball with a sour built into it: Tennessee whiskey, triple sec, fresh lemon and lemonade.
Its origin was litigated. A restaurant owner in Alabama sued the distillery in the late 1980s claiming the recipe was his and that it had been taken after a company representative visited his bar. By most accounts he was awarded nominal damages of a single dollar, which is the kind of outcome that guarantees a story outlives the drink.
The raspberry version is a good deal younger and considerably less dramatic. It grew on the UK bar circuit through the years when the parent was a standard menu item.
Why Chambord Rather Than Syrup
Raspberry syrup and Chambord are not interchangeable, and the difference shows most at highball length.
Syrup gives bright, slightly one-note fruit and a lot of sugar, and once it has been stretched with ninety millilitres of lemonade it reads thin. Chambord is a black raspberry liqueur with vanilla, honey and a touch of cognac in it, and that depth survives the dilution. At fifteen millilitres it colours the entire glass and gives it a rounded, faintly jammy body that syrup cannot supply.
It is the same reason a French Martini works with Chambord and does not with syrup.
The Halving
The parent uses roughly twenty millilitres of triple sec. This uses ten, plus fifteen of Chambord.
That is a small piece of arithmetic doing a lot of work. Both liqueurs are sweet, and a version that keeps the full orange measure and adds raspberry on top is noticeably sweeter than either the parent or this. On a single glass you might not object. On the second one on a warm afternoon, which is what the drink is for, you will.
The blush should deepen the drink rather than candy it, and the measure is what decides which of those happens.
Why Tennessee Whiskey
Charcoal filtering is what separates Tennessee whiskey from bourbon. The new spirit runs through several feet of sugar maple before it ever reaches a barrel, and what comes out the far side is rounder and a shade sweeter than the same mash would otherwise give.
In a drink with this much fruit and lemonade in it, that softness is useful. A high-rye bourbon has a peppery edge that competes with the raspberry, and a very soft wheated bourbon disappears altogether. Tennessee whiskey sits in the right place, which is presumably why the family is named after the town it comes from.
How to Serve It
Built in a collins glass over plenty of ice: whiskey, Chambord, triple sec and lemon stirred briefly, then the lemonade on top and one more stir.
A lemon wheel and a few fresh raspberries. Both are working garnishes rather than decoration: the wheel adds fresh acid as the drink sits, and the berries tell you what is in it.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Jack Daniel's Tennessee WhiskeyCharcoal-mellowed before the barrel, which is what makes it Tennessee whiskey rather than bourbon. The filtering strips some of the sharper grain notes, so it arrives softer and sweeter than a bourbon of comparable age and suits a long drink accordingly.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Raspberry Lynchburg?
Why halve the triple sec instead of just adding Chambord?
Can I use raspberry syrup instead of Chambord?
Why Tennessee whiskey rather than bourbon?
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits