Over the weekend I attended a party where Tim Laird, Brown-Forman’s “CEO” (Chief Entertaining Officer), was slinging the drinks, and I experienced one of the most eye-opening (palate-awakening?) moments of my bourbon-drinking life: I had bourbon and red wine. In a cocktail. Together.

Now, I’ve written several times here about cocktails that combine bourbon and champagne. But mixing bourbon and red wine had never occurred to me. It occurred to Tim when a steakhouse asked him to create a cocktail that could hold its own with the bold flavor of a sizzling steak. Bourbon came immediately to mind, then red wine. Why not combine them?

The result was the Woodford Ruby, which Tim is pouring into a glass from a shaker above. (By the way, he also dispelled the notion that shaken is better than stirred, or vice versa. As long as the ingredients get nicely chilled and slightly diluted, which opens up the flavor, either method is fine.)

The Ruby was a revelation — big, bold flavor, with the wine taking the edge off the bourbon and giving it that nice velvety mouthfeel. Simple syrup added a touch of sweetness, but fresh lemon juice kept it from being too sweet. It was quite refreshing on a warm, breezy evening.

Here is the recipe from Tim Laird’s 2010 book, “That’s Entertaining!”

Woodford Ruby

In a shaker with ice, add:

3 ounces Woodford Reserve bourbon

6 ounces red wine, such as pinot noir or merlot

2 ounces simple syrup

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Shake and strain into chilled martini glasses. Garnish with lemon twists.

Serves two. Cheers!

Counting down to the season premiere of HBO’s “True Blood” at 9 and contemplating which beverage will make the best accompaniment. A Bloody Mary would be an obvious choice, but I’d rather face the True Death than drink tomato juice, so I think I’ll pour a nice big glass of red wine. In fact, I’m positive that’s what I’ll do. O positive.

Let me say up front that I love Louisville’s L & N Wine Bar and Bistro, and that probably when you visit an establishment with “wine” right in the name of it, that is what you should drink there - and usually that is what I drink there. But it was the holidays, and I was more in the mood for a cocktail, and I had just read Esquire’s Rule No. 433 of Holiday Drinking (“A slug of whiskey is not a holiday drink. Unless you drop a cinnamon stick in it.”), so I ordered a cocktail ($10) made with bourbon infused in-house with cinnamon and apples.

It was presented very stylishly (above), albeit so cold that I had to sort of chip the carafe out of its icy prison, and it smelled wonderful. But the infused flavors so overwhelmed the bourbon that I felt like I was drinking potpourri, which to be honest had never even occurred to me as a beverage option. It did leave a nice aftertaste, I should add. But in future, I’ll stick to the wine at L & N.