Brown Derby Cocktail Recipe

Before you start

The Brown Derby is a bourbon sour where grapefruit juice takes the place of lemon and honey does the sweetening. Grapefruit is less acidic and more bitter than lemon, so the drink lands softer and juicier than a whiskey sour, with a faint pith bitterness that keeps it from tasting like breakfast. Honey bridges the gap between the bourbon's vanilla and the fruit.

The drink depends on the grapefruit. Pink and red varieties are sweeter and more aromatic; white grapefruit is sharper and more bitter. Because the juice provides most of the volume, use fresh fruit squeezed the same day. If your grapefruit is especially sweet, add a squeeze of lemon to restore the bite.

Ingredients

• 45 ml (1½ oz) bourbon
• 30 ml (1 oz) fresh grapefruit juice — pink or ruby red, strained
• 15 ml (½ oz) honey syrup (1:1)
• 1 cup (about 150 g) ice cubes — for shaking
• 1 strip grapefruit peel — garnish

Method

1. Chill the coupe. Halve the grapefruit and juice one half; strain out pulp and seeds through a fine strainer. Cut a wide strip of peel before juicing if you want the garnish.
2. Taste the juice. If it is very sweet, plan to add 5 ml of lemon juice to the shaker.
3. Combine the bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey syrup in the shaker. Stir briefly to loosen the honey.
4. Add ice to two-thirds full and shake hard for about 10 seconds.
5. Double-strain into the chilled coupe. Twist the grapefruit peel over the surface to release its oils and set it on the rim.

Tips for success

• Grapefruit juice turns bitter as it sits. Juice it right before you mix rather than hours in advance.
• A bourbon with a high rye content adds spice that stands out against the soft fruit; a wheated bourbon makes a rounder, sweeter drink.
• The grapefruit oils from the peel are a real ingredient here. Do not skip the twist.

Substitutions

Grapefruit juice

Bottled not-from-concentrate grapefruit juice works better than bottled lemon or lime would, but it is sweeter and flatter. Add 5 ml lemon to wake it up.

Honey syrup

Rich demerara syrup gives a toffee note; use 10 ml. Plain simple syrup is fine but loses the floral layer.

Bourbon

Rye makes it drier and spicier. Aged rum makes a softer, tropical cousin of the drink.

Variations

Brown Derby on the rocks

Strain over a large ice cube in a rocks glass and add a dash of Angostura bitters for spice.

Grapefruit-rosemary Derby

Warm the honey syrup with a rosemary sprig for 10 minutes, cool and strain before using.

Troubleshooting

It tastes like sweet juice with no backbone

Pink grapefruit can be low in acid. Add 5–7 ml lemon juice and make sure the bourbon pour is a full 45 ml.

There is a harsh bitterness

You pressed too hard and pulled in pith, or the juice sat too long. Juice gently and use it right away.

The honey clumped

Use honey syrup, not straight honey, and stir it into the spirits before adding ice.

Storage

Serve immediately. Grapefruit juice is best used within a few hours of squeezing; refrigerate any extra and use it the same day. Keep honey syrup refrigerated in a sealed jar for up to about 2 weeks.

Safety notes

The 45 ml bourbon pour comes to just over 1 U.S. standard drink (about 14 g pure alcohol per standard drink). Adults of legal drinking age only; do not drink and drive.