Brown Derby Cocktail, Whisky, Grapefruit and Honey from 1933
Reader ratingsHalf whisky, a quarter grapefruit juice and a quarter honey, shaken: the Brown Derby as Hollywood Cocktails printed it in 1933, the same drink the Savoy Cocktail Book had called the De Rigueur.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink
- Prep
- Total
A Brown Derby of bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey in a stemmed coupe, with half a pink grapefruit and a jar of honey.
The story behind the recipe
Under a red drawing of the hat-shaped Brown Derby restaurant, Hollywood Cocktails printed its Brown Derby at the end of 1933: half whisky, a quarter grapefruit juice and a quarter honey, shaken and strained. The book’s title page promised “the favorite cocktail served at each of the smartest stars’ rendezvous,” but the drink was older than its name.
The De Rigueur
The Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930, prints the same three fractions on its page 58 as the De Rigueur Cocktail, with cracked ice listed and the same “Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.” The Hollywood page drops the ice line and keeps the rest. The drinks writer Robert F. Moss points to an earlier De Rigueur in Judge Jr.’s Here’s How of 1927, where the whisky is Scotch, and found no evidence that the drink was ever served in Hollywood, at the restaurant or at the Café Vendome, the other place it is credited to. How a London list turned into a Hollywood one is told in Hollywood Cocktails, 1933: Old Recipes at Star Addresses.
Read more about this recipe
Shaking it today
Neither book names a whisky. Bourbon is the usual modern choice and ours; rye makes it drier, and Scotch takes it back to 1927. A quarter of honey is a lot, and neither book mentions a syrup, so we read it as straight honey and stir it into the whisky before the ice goes in; honey stiffens on ice and is hard to mix once it is cold. Use fresh grapefruit juice, white or pink.
With the whisky at 40%, the shaken drink comes to about 15% alcohol, one US standard drink. Its neighbor from the same book is the Vendome Cocktail. For a glass from the Prohibition years without alcohol, try the Grape Juice Highball.
Recipe makes: 1 drink
Ingredients
For 1 drink. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink.
- Bourbon1 1/2 fl oz
- Fresh grapefruit juice3/4 fl oz
- Honey3/4 fl oz
- Ice cubes
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 1/2 fl oz bourbon
- 3/4 fl oz fresh grapefruit juice
- 3/4 fl oz honey
- ice cubes
Equipment
Cocktail shaker
Strainer
Small cocktail glass
Instructions
Chill a small cocktail glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Put the honey and bourbon in the shaker and stir until the honey has dissolved.
Add the fresh grapefruit juice and fill the shaker two-thirds with ice cubes.
Shake hard for about 15 seconds, until the shaker is frosty.
Strain into the chilled glass and serve.
Nutrition
200calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof whiskey, honey and grapefruit juice, counting alcohol at 7 calories per gram.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Keep the half-quarter-quarter proportions; shake no more than two drinks at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
The 1933 text gives a half of whisky, a quarter of grapefruit juice and a quarter of honey, “Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.” The ice comes from the Savoy’s De Rigueur; dissolving the honey first, the bourbon and the 1 1/2 fl oz measure of whisky (a 3 fl oz drink before ice) are ours.
Many modern recipes use honey syrup, honey thinned with an equal amount of warm water. That makes it easier to mix and less sweet; use about 1 fl oz of syrup in place of the honey.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
Hollywood Cocktails, designed by George E. Buzza, Jr. (Hollywood: Buzza-Cardozo, 1933), “Brown Derby Cocktail”
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Cocktails & Mixed Drinks
- Region
- American
- Source decade
- 1930s
- Difficulty
- Easy