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Friday Cocktail Hour: The Derby

Published: Oct 4, 2013 · Modified: Feb 3, 2021 by Michael Ruhlman · 4 Comments

Derby cocktail. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

Derby cocktail. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

When I opened to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's wonderful and expanded food section, I was delighted to find a handful of bartenders offering cocktails. The Derby, offered by Lindsey Hawes, who mixes drinks at The Willeyville in the Cleveland Flats, caught my eye (here she is making another fave of mine, The Dark & Stormy). The Derby  caught my eye for its straightforwardness and lack of frou. I immediately thought of the Brown Derby, a restaurant chain that flourished here in the 1970s, where I first encountered what was called a salad bar, back in the pre-sneeze guard days (God, how I long for the simpler times when people didn't freak out about bacteria and rub sanitizing gel on their hands every five minutes). Potatoes came foil wrapped (an actual botulism worry, in fact). Butter was all but frozen in foil packets, and the onion rings adorning the filet mignons came out of a plastic bag. How I loved going to the Brown Derby with my mom and dad, Uncle Jon, and Aunt Barb.

I don't know the provenance of this cocktail, though Leite's Culinaria traces it to the 1940s and Trader Vic. But I love it for its bourbon wallop, the sweet vermouth, orange liqueur, and sharp lime juice, with a light aromatic mintiness lingering on the tongue.

Mint can be used in the garnish only or muddled delicately in the shaker (but not pulverized—no shreds of leaf should be in the pour). A lovely fall cocktail as the evenings grow cooler.

I used a new bourbon I'd been meaning to try, shipped in to Cleveland and then rapidly aged using a new speed-aging technique. It's not Blanton's or Woodford, but it's pretty damn good and perfect for this cocktail.

Derby cocktail @540

The Derby

  • 2 ounces bourbon
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth
  • 1 ounce Grand Marnier
  • ¾ ounce fresh lime juice
  • 1 lime disk, for garnish (optional)
  • 1 mint leaf, for garnish (optional)
  1. Fill a cocktail shaker with the bourbon, sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier, and lime juice. Muddle some mint in it gently if you wish. Add ice and stir for 90 seconds or so.
  2. Strain the concoction into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge and mint leaf.

Other links you may like:

  • Other cocktails featuring bourbon: the classic Manhattan, the Mint Julep, and the Boulevardier.
  • Headed South? Then visit the bourbon trail in Kentucky.
  • Food & Wine shares a list of various bourbon-based cocktails.
  • What makes a bourbon bourbon?

© 2013 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2013 Donna Turner Ruhlman. All rights reserved.

THE DERBY

Print Recipe
Course Cocktail

Ingredients
  

  • 2 ounces bourbon
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth
  • 1 ounce Grand Marnier
  • ¾ ounce fresh lime juice
  • 1 lime disk, for garnish (optional)
  • 1 mint leaf, for garnish (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Fill a cocktail shaker with the bourbon, sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier, and lime juice. Muddle some mint in it gently if you wish. Add ice and stir for 90 seconds or so.
  • Strain the concoction into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge and mint leaf.
« Friday Cocktail Hour: The Cobbler
Chicken-Tagine-Recipe Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. lrs62

    October 04, 2013 at 11:30 am

    One of these sounds really good about now

    Reply
  2. allen

    October 05, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    This must be good, the first two ingredients is a manhattan.
    Will try one tonight, as it's steak night.
    Friday was chicken night, which meant gin, one of my favorites from this blog - the Aviation.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Friday Cocktail Hour: The Traverse City Zinger Returns | Michael Ruhlman says:
    October 18, 2013 at 11:30 am

    […] recent cocktails are: the Derby, the Cobbler, and the Old Fashioned with Homemade […]

    Reply
  2. Friday Cocktail Hour: Aged Eggnog | Michael Ruhlman says:
    November 1, 2013 at 10:34 am

    […] My past cocktail posts featuring dark rum or bourbon are rum old fashioned, the dark and stormy, and the derby. […]

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Michael Ruhlman, an award-winning author and cook who writes about chefs, food and cooking, among other things.

More about me →

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

See my books!

Ratio App for iPhone

After I wrote my book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, a colleague and I built a ratio calculator for iPhones that allows you to cook without recipes. For doughs, batters, custards, sauces, stocks and more, simply plug in the amount of one ingredient and the amounts of the other ingredients are instantly calculated. It's also a handy reference for dozens of our most common preparations. ($4.99 in the app store.)

Collaborate

I’ve collaborated on a dozen books, including cookbooks and a memoir. If you'd like to collaborate on a project, please contact my agent, Gail Hochman, [email protected], at Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc.

For speaking engagements contact, Kip Ludwig, [email protected].

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