Quintessential Kentucky Derby co*cktail Recipes for Your Race-Day Party (2024)

Ingredients

2 oz Woodford Reserve
1 oz water
4 sprigs of fresh mint
1 tsp sugar
Crushed ice

Instructions

In a copper julep cup rub 2 pieces of fresh mint around the cup to express the oils. Add Woodford Reserve, then the water and sugar and stir with a bar spoon. Add crushed ice to the top then garnish with sprigs of mint.

More: A Complete History of the Mint Julep

Ingredients

2 oz G.H. Mumm Grand Cordon Champagne
1.5 oz Avion Blanco Tequila
.5 oz blackberry cinnamon syrup*
.5 oz fresh lime juice

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except champagne into a co*cktail shaker, and fill with ice. Shake to chill and strain into a rocks glass over ice. Top with champagne

*Blackberry cinnamon syrup: Combine 1 cup of water, 1 pack of blackberries, and 2 cinnamon sticks broken up in small saucepan. Warm the ingredients on medium heat until the blackberries start to split and release juice. Add in 1 cup of sugar and gently stir to dissolve. Allow the syrup to cool down, then strain out the solids.

Ingredients

1 bottle of Woodford Reserve
2 liters of fresh brewed tea
.5 cup sugar
15 lemons
15 sprigs of mint
1 large punch bowl

Instructions

First, peel the lemons (avoiding as much of the pith as possible). Place the peels into the punch bowl with the sugar. Pick the leaves of 10 sprigs of mint and place into the punch bowl with the lemon peel. Brew tea directly into punch bowl with lemon peel, sugar, mint and lemon juice and mix well. Juice the peeled lemon into the punch bowl. Allow mixture to cool then add ice and bourbon. Serve garnished with mint.

Jeff Banks from The Luminary

Ingredients

1.5 oz Knob Creek Bourbon
.75 oz Campari
.75 oz Amaro Nonino
.5 oz Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
3 drops Bittermans Ginger Bitters

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Stir and strain. Pour into double rocks glass and garnish with orange and lime twist

By Marshall Minaya for Valerie, NYC

Ingredients

2 oz G.H. Mumm Champagne
1.5 oz Jameson Black Barrel
.25 oz pineapple syrup
.5 oz lime juice
4-5 mint leaves

Instructions

In a highball glass, combine mint, pineapple syrup, and lime juice. Gently muddle the ingredients, and add in the whiskey. Top with crushed ice and light stir to combine to ingredients. Top with G.H. Mumm and add in more crushed ice. Dash 2-3 of angostura bitters on top, and garnish with pineapple leaves and mint.

By @ApartmentBartender

Ingredients

1.5 oz Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
3-5 strawberries
3 basil leaves
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz simple syrup

Instructions

Shake all ingredients, pour over fresh ice and rock glass. Garnish with a strawberry and basil leaf.

Ingredients

2 oz Basil Hayden’s Bourbon
1 bar spoon simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
6 fresh thyme sprigs (one for garnish)

Instructions

Muddle fresh thyme in a rocks glass. Combine remaining ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until cold. Fine strain into the rocks glass filed with ice. Garnish with a toasted thyme sprig

By Frank Liotti

Ingredients

1.5 oz bourbon
.5 oz Braulio
.75 oz lemon
.5 oz honey syrup
6 mint leaves
2 dash of Angostura bitters
1 oz of soda water

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except soda water in a shaker tin with ice and shake. Strain into a Collins glass with ice and a mint sprig.

From Officina in Washington D.C.

Ingredients

2 oz Cruzan Estate Diamond Dark Rum
.5 oz turbinado syrup*
Pinch fresh mint leaves
3 blackberries
Ice, Crushed

Instructions

Muddle mint and berries in a julep cup. Add rum and turbinado syrup and fill with crushed ice. Take a bouquet of mint and rinse with water, then sprinkle mint with powdered sugar and garnish with 3 speared blackberries.

*Turbinado Syrup — Combine 8 parts hot water and 8 parts turbinado sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate for up to 30 days.

Ingredients

2 oz Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka
1 oz lemon juice
.5 oz simple syrup
1 bar spoon strawberry jam

Ingredients

Add all ingredients to a co*cktail shaker with ice. Shake hard to chill and combine ingredients. Strain into your glass over fresh ice.

Ingredients

1.5 oz bourbon
3 oz ginger beer
2 lime wedges (1 for garnish)

Instructions

Combine bourbon, ginger beer, and juice from one lime wedge in a rocks glass filled with ice. Stir mixture and garnish with lime wedge.

From The Bourbon Country Cookbook by David Danielson, Executive Chef of Churchill Downs

Ingredients

.5 oz lemon juice
1 oz grapefruit juice
.75 oz St. Germain
1.25 oz Mellow Corn BIB bourbon

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin with ice and shake. Strain over ice ball and serve in a goblet with mint sprig.

By Emily Heyde, co-owner of Fork & Barrel in Louisville, KY.

Ingredients

1.5 oz of Reyka Vodka
2 oz cucumber juice
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz simple syrup
6-8 mint leaves
Crushed ice

Instructions

Stir ingredients. Garnish with mint sprig and cucumber slice.

Colin Asare-Appiah, the Leadbelly

Ingredients

1.5 oz Woodford Reserve
2 oz lemonade
1 oz cranberry juice
Crushed Ice
Lemon peel for a lemon twist to garnish

Instructions

In a glass mix Woodford Reserve, lemonade and cranberry juice with a bar spoon. Add liquid mixture into a copper cup, add crushed ice to the top of the glass & serve with a lemon twist.

Ingredients

1.5 oz Makers Mark
.25 oz Giffard Apricot
.25 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
.5 oz simple syrup
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz orange juice
2 dashes Black Walnut Bitters

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a shaker. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange half moon.

From Oceans in NYC.

Ingredients

1.5 oz Bib & Tucker 6-Year Bourbon
.25 oz elderflower liqueur
4 oz soda water
6 sprigs thyme
6 leaves mint
Lemon twist, mint, and thyme sprigs to garnish

Instructions

Muddle elderflower liqueur, mint, and thyme together in a mixing glass. Add bourbon, stir together briefly, and double strain over ice into a highball glass. Add soda water and stir briefly to combine. Garnish with a lemon twist, thyme, and mint sprigs.

Ingredients

2 oz Bulleit Rye
1 oz grapefruit juice
.5 oz honey syrup

Instructions

Shake it up and pour into a martini glass, garnishing with pink peppercorns.

Eduardo Gouza, JCT Kitchen

Ingredients

2.5 oz Ferrand 1840 Original Formula Cognac
2 tsp superfine sugar
.5 oz water
5-6 mint leaves

Instructions

In a highball glass, stir superfine sugar with water until dissolved.Add mint leaves (from the bottom of the sprig) and press very lightly with a muddler. Add 1.5 oz cognac and fill with crushed or finely cracked ice. Swirl with a bar spoon until the outside of the glass frosts. Add more crushed ice and another 1 oz cognac. Stir again to frost the glass. Garnish with at least 1 sprig of mint and add a straw.

Adapted by David Wondrich

Ingredients

2 oz Fistful of Bourbon
.25 oz Simple Syrup
4 dashes Chocolate Bitters
8 mint leaves

Instructions

Break mint in half and add all ingredients into a julep glass or rocks glass. Fill with crushed ice and swizzle. Top off with ice and garnish with grated chocolate and a mint bouquet

Ingredients

1.5 oz Bib & Tucker 6–Year Bourbon
.25 oz Elderflower Liqueur
4 oz Soda Water
6 sprigs Thyme
6 leaves Mint
Lemon twist, Mint and Thyme sprigs to garnish

Instructions

Muddle Elderflower liqueur, mint, and thyme together in a mixing glass. Add bourbon, stir together briefly, and double strain over ice into a highball glass. Add about 4 ounces of soda water and stir briefly to combine. Garnish with a lemon twist trimmed and wrapped around nice thyme and mint sprigs to garnish.