Plodding (ok, sloshing rather than plodding!) my way through Ted Haigh‘s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails … in no particular order!

The latest choice was bourbon based (because I felt like bourbon), and so flipping through the pages, I stopped at the page with the Derby cocktail (yes, named for the Kentucky Derby).  According to Dr. Cocktail, this version appeared in Trader Vic’s 1947 Bartender’s Guide.

This is a pretty tasty, not too complicated cocktail.  I used some of the fancier bourbon in the house for this — Booker’s, and some recently acquired Punt e Mes for the sweet vermouth.  The addition of lime helps keep it all in balance.

the Derby Cocktail (from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails

• 1 oz. bourbon
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz. orange curacao
• 3/4 oz. lime

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass — garnish with a lime wedge and a mint leaf