September is a good month for fans of American whiskey. Not only is it National Bourbon Heritage Month (in the US, anyway), it also marks the birthday of one Jasper Newton Daniel. Thanks to a courthouse fire in Moore County, TN, sometime in the 1860s, no-one knows which specific day in September 1850 saw the birth of the man who would be known by the world as Jack and so the only logical thing to do was to take the entire month to celebrate.

This is, coincidentally, the sort of thing that Roman emperors got a bad name for, but then they never had decent whiskey.

There aren't many more fitting ways to celebrate an icon of the spirits world than with a cocktail competition and the lure of a trip to Lynchburg brought many of Edinburgh's top bartenders out to play. In the end, Ruari Cathmoir of the Bon Vivant won just ahead of the Raconteur's Nick Reed while the overall standard was, as ever, absurdly high. Here's my entry:

New Number Seven

35ml Jack Daniel's
15ml Fine Ruby Port
5ml Maraschino liqueur
10ml lemon juice
10ml orgeat

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine-strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist.