Skip to main content

Get ready for the weekend with these classic Derby Day cocktails

Uncle Nearest
Uncle Nearest

There are some essentials for any Kentucky Derby weekend. There’s your smartest outfit. Some classic Southern food. And of course, there’s the bourbon cocktails.

Most people will opt for the Mint Julep, with its classic flavors and iconic serving cup that makes it so fun to drink. But there’s also another well-regarded traditional drink you can try, the Kentucky Buck. Either way, you’re going to need a whole lot of crushed ice, some fresh fruit, and your best bourbon.

Recommended Videos

To get you ready for the weekend’s excitement, we’ve got easy recipes for these two classic cocktails that are the perfect fit for the event.

Kentucky Buck


Ingredients:

  • 2 fl oz Four Roses Bourbon
  • ¾ fl oz Lemon juice
  • 1–2 Strawberries, sliced and destemmed
  • 1 Dash Angostura bitters
  • Ginger beer
  • Garnish – Lemon wheel

Method:

Muddle strawberry in a shaking tin. Add bourbon, lemon juice, and bitters. Add ice to tin and shake for fifteen seconds, or until the cocktail is well chilled. Add ginger beer to the mixing tin. Double strain over fresh ice into a glass. Garnish.

Uncle Nearest Mint Julep

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Uncle Nearest 1856
  • 6–8 Mint Leaves
  • 0.25 oz Simple Syrup (or more to taste)
  • Hella Cocktail Co. Aromatic Bitters (optional)
  • Mint Sprig Garnish

Method:

Gently muddle the mint leaves and simple syrup in a Julep cup or rocks glass. Add Uncle Nearest 1856 and pack the glass with crushed ice. Stir until the outside of the glass is frosted. Add more ice to form a small dome. Garnish with a mint spring and aromatic bitters (optional).

Georgina Torbet
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Georgina Torbet is a cocktail enthusiast based in Berlin, with an ever-growing gin collection and a love for trying out new…
How to give a classic Ranch Water the berry treatment
An end-of-summer refreshment for the masses
Blackberry Ranch Water.

As summer winds down, the reasons to make a good cocktail multiply. Maybe it's to toast the U.S. Open, perhaps it's an acknowledgement of Mai Tai Day. Whatever it may be, we've got options for you.

Ranch Water is one of the easiest drinks in the book but also one of the most satisfying. Perhaps best, it can be manipulated in any number of ways, taking on different flavors of the season. What's certain is that right now, during the heat of late August and into Labor Day Weekend, there's never been a better time for the thirst-quenching beverage.

Read more
The daiquiri deserves better — and here’s why I still believe in it
Put down the paper umbrella and walk away.
Refreshing rum daiquiri

The daiquiri has a PR problem — and frankly, it’s one it brought on itself. These days, the word conjures up an image of something slushy and neon, a sugar-bomb churned out of a machine at a cruise ship bar. It’s a drink that arrives in a plastic souvenir cup, wearing a paper umbrella like a bad hat, topped with canned whipped cream and maybe a wedge of fruit that’s seen better days. It’s the drink you order when you’ve decided you don’t care what’s actually in your glass, as long as it’s cold, pink, and packs enough booze to make you forget you’re sunburned.

But here’s the thing: the daiquiri wasn’t always this way. Once upon a time, it was one of the most elegant cocktails on the planet — a perfect little triangle of rum, lime, and sugar. No blender, no syrup, no electric blue mystery goo. Just balance. Just restraint. Just, well… dignity.

Read more
Meet the Cuban rum punch perfect for your end-of-summer nights
A radiant drink for Hispanic Heritage Month
Rooftop at Exchange Place.

There are a lot of great NYC bars out there. But there's one drink in particular catching our eye right now, made expertly at the Rooftop at Exchange Place. The drink is as good as the bar's spectacular views, which include panoramas of the Hudson River and the New York City skyline.

This drink works on so many levels. It's a timely one, mixing up things like peach that we tend to associate with late summer. It's also a great means of celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, which commences mid-September. It's also just plain refreshing, an ideal cocktail for these last hot gasps of summer.

Read more