Sips & Synopsis

• This Weeks Makings

• Trivia Question

• Drink of the Week - The Brown Derby

• The Honey Syrup Edit

• Bonus Cocktails

• Mocktail Moment - Honey Grapefruit Spritz

This Weeks Makings.

Some cocktails feel like they walked off a movie set.

This week pours one that actually did.

The Brown Derby was allegedly named for a Hollywood restaurant shaped like a hat. The drink came from the second location, in the 1930s, and quickly became a favorite of the film crowd. Bourbon, fresh grapefruit, a touch of honey. Nothing fancy. Just three ingredients that catch the light.

In this issue:

• A Drink of the Week with a real Hollywood backstory

• How to make honey syrup and why it changes every cocktail it touches

• Two bonus cocktails from Jalisco and Peru, both built around fresh citrus

• A trivia question about how this cocktail got its name

• A mocktail that pulls the same sunset trick, no proof needed

Trivia Question ❓

The Brown Derby cocktail was named after a famous 1930s Los Angeles restaurant. What was the unique architectural feature that gave both the restaurant and the cocktail their name?

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter

The Brown Derby

Bourbon, fresh grapefruit, honey. Three ingredients and a piece of Hollywood history.

Ingredients

• 2 oz bourbon

• 1 oz fresh pink grapefruit juice

• 0.75 oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and warm water, stirred until smooth)

• Grapefruit peel to garnish

Directions

1. Add bourbon, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup to a shaker with ice

2. Shake hard for 12 to 15 seconds until very cold

3. Double strain into a chilled coupe

4. Express a wide strip of grapefruit peel over the top and drop it in

Why It Works

Grapefruit gives bourbon something to push against without ever covering it up. Honey rounds the corners and adds a floral note that plain sugar never will. Shake it cold enough and the color goes from gold to soft sunset pink. This cocktail may older than your grandparents and still completely modern.

Behind the Bar - The Honey Syrup Edit

Honey is one of the oldest sweeteners on the bar. It is also the most underused.

The trouble is that straight honey will not mix with cold liquids. It seizes. It sinks. It clumps at the bottom of your glass.

The fix is honey syrup. And it is the easiest fix in cocktails.

The base recipe. Equal parts honey and warm (not hot) water. Stir until smooth. That is the whole thing. It keeps for about two weeks in the fridge.

Why it changes everything:

• It mixes cleanly with cold spirits and citrus

• It brings floral and earthy notes that plain sugar cannot

• It plays beautifully with whiskey, gin, mezcal, and citrus

Try this. Use buckwheat honey for a darker, almost molasses depth in bourbon drinks. Use orange blossom honey when you want florals to come forward in gin. Use raw wildflower for everyday cocktails. The honey you pick is the difference between a good drink and one that tastes like nowhere else.

A few tools that make honey work harder at home:

• A glass syrup dispenser to keep honey syrup cold and pourable

• A jar of varietal raw honey for the kind of complexity supermarket honey cannot match

• A fine-mesh strainer for catching the bits when you use raw honey

Master honey syrup once and half the modern cocktail menu opens up to you.

Bonus Cocktails

Cantaritos

A Jalisco classic. Three citruses, tequila, and a salt rim that catches the sun.

Ingredients

• 2 oz blanco tequila

• 1 oz fresh grapefruit juice

• 0.5 oz fresh orange juice

• 0.5 oz fresh lime juice

• A pinch of salt, plus salt or Tajin for the rim

• Grapefruit soda or club soda to top

• Lime wheel to garnish

Directions

Rim a tall glass (or a clay tumbler if you have one) with salt or Tajin. Fill with ice. Add tequila, the three juices, and a pinch of salt. Stir gently and top with grapefruit soda or club soda. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Why it works

Three different citruses go further than any one of them alone. Grapefruit brings the bitterness, orange brings the round sweetness, lime brings the zing. The salt makes all of it pop. This is what a margarita drinks when it grows up and moves to Guadalajara.

Pisco Sour

Peru in a glass. Frothy, bright, theatrical.

Ingredients

• 2 oz pisco

• 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice (or lime, traditionally)

• 0.5 oz simple syrup

• 1 egg white

• 2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Directions

Dry shake all ingredients except bitters (no ice) for 15 seconds to whip the foam. Add ice and shake again hard until very cold. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Dot the foam with three drops of Angostura bitters and gently swirl with a toothpick if you want to get fancy.

Why it works

The dry shake builds a meringue-thick foam. The bitters dots on top are pure theater. Pisco is grape-based and lets the citrus stay bright. Three sips in, you understand why this is the national drink of two countries.

Mocktail or Zero Proof Option

Honey Grapefruit Spritz

All the citrus and honey. None of the proof.

Ingredients

• 2 oz fresh grapefruit juice

• 0.5 oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and warm water, stirred until smooth)

• 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

• 3 oz sparkling water

• Grapefruit peel and a sprig of thyme to garnish

Directions

Stir grapefruit juice, honey syrup, and lemon juice in a wine glass with ice. Top slowly with sparkling water. Express a grapefruit peel over the top and drop it in with a sprig of thyme.