The Horsefeather: Kansas’s Forgotten Cocktail and the Perfect Election Night Drink
Election night calls for a cocktail with some history behind it. Meet the Horsefeather: a whiskey highball from the American heartland that most of the country has never heard of, beloved in Kansas and Kansas City for decades, and exactly right for a long night of watching returns.
The name is old American slang for nonsense. Make of that what you will on Election Day.
Where It Came From
The Horsefeather traces its roots to Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, Kansas, sometime in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It descended from the Horse’s Neck, a 19th-century highball of whiskey and ginger ale, and evolved into something with a bit more character: rye whiskey, ginger beer, Angostura bitters, and a squeeze of lemon. The first print mention appeared in Gary Regan’s classic manual The Bartender’s Bible in 1991, listed as “Horse Feathers.” Regan himself admitted he had no idea where it came from.
The drink was taught and spread through Lawrence’s bar community out of the now-closed Paradise Cafe in the early 90s. When Paradise shut its doors in 2004, its bartenders carried the recipe to spots around town, including The Bourgeois Pig on 6th Street, which became one of its best-known homes. Kansas City picked it up too. Both cities still claim it. Neither is wrong.
Harry Truman, Independence, Missouri’s most famous resident and a man who was well documented in his appreciation for bourbon, reportedly had a fondness for simple whiskey highballs of exactly this style. Whether the Horsefeather was his drink by name is part of the regional legend. What is certain is that it fits squarely in the midwestern whiskey tradition he came from.
How to Make It
Build it in a highball glass over ice. Two ounces of rye whiskey, four ounces of ginger beer, two or three dashes of Angostura bitters, a squeeze of fresh lemon. Stir gently and drink it before the ice dilutes it. That is the whole recipe.
Rye is the traditional choice and the right one. Old Overholt is the Lawrence standard. If you want to honor the Kansas City side of the story, J. Rieger and Co. KC Whiskey is the local pick. Bourbon works too and gives it a slightly sweeter, rounder character.
The Variations
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THE BOURGEOIS PIG VERSION Ginger beer instead of ginger ale, finished with a cherry garnish. Richer and slightly more refined than the original. If you spent time in Lawrence, this is probably the one you remember. |
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THE FRESH GINGER VERSION Lawrence’s Eighth Street Taproom skips Angostura entirely and uses a house-made ginger water, pressed from fresh ginger and simmered pulp. More intense, more aromatic, closer to a craft Moscow mule. Worth trying if you have fresh ginger in the kitchen. |
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THE BOURBON VERSION Swap rye for a good Kentucky bourbon. Sweeter, softer, and more approachable for drinkers who find rye too sharp. Four Roses or Buffalo Trace are good calls here. A natural fit for a night that has Missouri and Kansas both in the conversation. |
Pour one tonight. Whether the results bring celebration or something that requires a little more patience, the Horsefeather handles both with midwestern dignity.
