Some bourbons, though they may come from deep in the Kentucky heartland of America, bear within them all the smoky mystery of a single malt Scotch brewed on the edge of a peaty moor in Scotland. To revel in the delicious tension of these two great whiskey regions, smoky up your bourbon with a pinch of smoked salt on the rocks. Take the sensation to its near-ridiculous extreme by making that smoked salt Iburi-jio Cherry, a soft and supple deep-sea salt cold-smoked with cherry wood from that much newer but dead-serious whiskey-making region, Japan. The salt brings just a hint of smoked bacon aroma that whets your appetite even as the drink slakes your thirst.

Ingredients

　　2 ounces bourbon whiskey, such as Woodford Reserve or Baker’s

　　Scant two-finger pinch Iburi-Jio Cherry salt

　　Fill a rocks glass half full with large ice cubes. Pour the whiskey over the rocks; it should come not more than two-thirds of the way to the top of the ice. Sprinkle with the salt. Inhale. Imbibe.

　　Salted