St. Agrestis · Cocktail library
Brown Derby
A shaken bourbon sour with grapefruit juice and honey syrup.
Go to the recipe ↓The Brown Derby is bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey syrup, shaken with ice and strained into a chilled glass. The sources agree on those three ingredients and that method. They differ on honey syrup strength: Imbibe uses a rich 3:1 syrup, Punch uses 2:1 and Jeffrey Morgenthaler uses equal parts honey and hot water. Each source's syrup strength goes with its own syrup and grapefruit pours, so make the syrup the recipe calls for before you measure.
Imbibe: rich 3:1 honey syrup
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
See the proportions
Share of the measured liquid, before ice. Unmeasured additions and non-volume ingredients are excluded.
Method as published
- Chill a cocktail glass.
- Add the bourbon, grapefruit juice and rich honey syrup to a shaker with ice.
- Shake until chilled.
- Strain into the chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish None specified.
- Rich honey syrup is listed as 3:1. The source gives the ratio but no preparation method, and it does not say whether the parts are measured by volume or weight.
Recipe source: imbibemagazine.com ↗
Punch: 2:1 honey syrup, coupe
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
See the proportions
Share of the measured liquid, before ice. Unmeasured additions and non-volume ingredients are excluded.
Method as published
- Chill a coupe.
- Put the bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey syrup in a cocktail shaker.
- Add ice and shake until chilled.
- Strain into the chilled coupe.
Garnish Grapefruit twist.
- The honey syrup is 2 parts honey to 1 part water. No preparation method is given.
Recipe source: PUNCH ↗
Morgenthaler: 1:1 honey syrup
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
Method as published
- Make the honey syrup by dissolving honey in an equal amount of hot water.
- Chill a cocktail glass.
- Shake the bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey syrup well with ice cubes until cold.
- Strain into the chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish None required. The source says a grapefruit peel or a grapefruit wedge also works.
- The honey syrup is 1 part honey to 1 part hot water, dissolved together.
Recipe source: jeffreymorgenthaler.com ↗
Honey syrup decides the pour
Bourbon, grapefruit and syrup run 4:2:1 in the Imbibe version, 2:1:1 in Punch's and 3:2:1 in Morgenthaler's. Punch's version has the largest syrup share. Imbibe uses the smallest syrup share but the richest syrup. A 1:1 syrup carries less honey per measure than a 3:1 syrup, so swapping syrups at the same pour changes the drink. The 2019 Cocktail Virgin version uses 1/2 oz of 1:1 honey syrup, like Morgenthaler, but with 2 oz bourbon and 3/4 oz grapefruit.
The name also belongs to a different drink. A 2013 Cocktail Virgin entry called brown derby uses rye, cacao, sweet vermouth and orange juice, with no grapefruit or honey listed.