The other day while shooting for my friends at Bourbon Joys, I started thinking about a Bourbon Ball cocktail. Sounds pretty good, huh?

Sure enough, there are lots of variations out there on the interwebs. They all share the same basic ingredients, Bourbon (obviously), creme de cacao & hazelnut liqueur. Pretty straightforward. But it seemed a bit odd to me to use hazelnut liqueur when a true bourbon ball has the wonderful pecan treat inside. I decided to get a little crazy and go in a different nut direction. Instead of hazelnut I subbed it out for  Rivulet Artisan Pecan Liqueur, another great Kentucky distilled product.

I’ll have to admit, I haven’t tried the more common version, but the Bourbon Joys creation is pretty darn tasty. And just like s real bourbon ball, the pecan comes in at the finish. You can thank me later. Cheers!