Brown Derby
Ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 oz Bulleit Bourbon
- 1 oz Pink grapefruit juice
- 1⁄3 oz Maple syrup
Method
Glassware:
Serve in a Coupe glass
Prepare:
- Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
- Prepare garnish of grapefruit zest twist.
Method:
- SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
- FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish:
- EXPRESS grapefruit zest twist over cocktail and use as garnish.
Nutrition:
One serving of Brown Derby contains 162 calories
History:
Said to have been created in the 1930s by a bartender at the Vendôme Café which sat at 6666 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. The Vendôme was opened in May 1933 by William "Billy" Wilkerson, a real estate developer who also owned The Hollywood Reporter, the offices of which were a block away.
Although created at the Vendôme, this cocktail is named after another fashionable Hollywood restaurant of the era, the Brown Derby at 1628 North Vine Street. Due to its proximity to the movie studios, this branch of the Brown Derby was more famous than the original, smaller branch at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard, famous for being housed in a building shaped like a man's derby hat.
A Brown Derby is a maple syrup-sweetened development on the earlier honey-sweetened De Rigueur Cocktail. The misguided belief that the Brown Derby should be sweetened with honey stems from a recipe in George Buzza Jr.'s, 1933 Hollywood Cocktails
Review:
This is a better cocktail than the similar but honey-sweetened De Rigueur Cocktail, as unless you have a very full-bodied honey, maple syrup's 'tang' sits better with the bourbon and grapefruit combo.
