Brown Derby

Taste

Two ounces of bourbon, a full ounce of grapefruit, half an ounce of honey syrup. Grapefruit is a third of the glass, so pith and a low bitterness arrive before the corn does. Honey is heavier than sugar and sits under the juice rather than dissolving through it. Shaken, coupe, no ice.

History

The formula is older than the name. Judge Jr. printed it in Here's How in 1927 as Scotch, grapefruit, and honey, and Harry Craddock printed the same proportions as the De Rigueur Cocktail in the 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book. George Buzza Jr. copied Craddock into Hollywood Cocktails in 1933 and renamed it the Brown Derby, after the hat-shaped restaurant on Wilshire. Dale DeGroff revived that version in The Craft of the Cocktail in 2002 and gave it to Billy Wilkerson's Vendome Club on Sunset around 1930; Robert F. Moss has since argued the record will not carry that: the Vendome opened in May 1933, and the Brown Derby Esquire prints in 1939 is a rum drink. This menu pours two ounces of bourbon, an ounce of grapefruit, and half an ounce of honey syrup, shaken, coupe.

• Robert F. Moss, The Tale of Two Derbies (Brown Ones)
• Punch, Brown Derby

Same shape, other bottles

The Sour family, with the bottle that changed.

• Blinkerrye and grenadine for bourbon and honey syrup
• Gold Rushlemon juice for grapefruit juice
• Daiquirilight rum and lime juice for bourbon and grapefruit juice
• Gimletgin and lime juice for bourbon and grapefruit juice
• Santiagolight rum and lime juice for bourbon and grapefruit juice
• The Rum Drinklight rum and lime juice for bourbon and grapefruit juice