Brought to you by Premier Wine & Spirits, the ingredient source for our Triple crown Cocktails. The Triple Crown + several area steeplechase races = many tailgating and party hosting opportunities.

Having a Derby Party?   In charge of Cocktails for your Point to Point Tailgate?  How about a Fabulous Phillies party, for ladies only?  Impress your friends with a  signature cocktail straight from the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes or Belmont Stakes?

Here are four signature “Triple Crown Cocktail” recipes to choose from.

The Mint Julep is featured in honor of  “the Greatest two minutes in sports“, the Kentucky Derby.  The Mint Julep has been the traditional beverage of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby for nearly a century. Each year, almost 120,000 Early Times Mint Juleps are served over the two-day period of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. This is a feat that requires over 10,000 bottles of Early Times Mint Julep Ready-to-Serve Cocktail, 1,000 pounds of freshly harvested mint and 60,000 pounds of ice.

Early Times Mint Julep

2 Cups sugar
2 Cups water
Sprigs of fresh mint
Crushed ice
Early Times Kentucky Bourbon
Silver Julep Cups

Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes. Cool and place in a covered container with six or eight sprigs of fresh mint, then refrigerate overnight. Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of Early Times Kentucky Bourbon. Stir rapidly with a spoon to frost the outside of the cup. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

The official mint julep glass is the most popular souvenir for Derby guests and will become a collector’s item.  They make great gifts for your guests and look even better with the drink inside!

 

In 2006 Kentucky Oaks fans were given the opportunity to start a new tradition by raising a glass filled with a yummy new creation, the “Oaks Lily®,” the official cocktail of the Kentucky Oaks.  The Brown-Forman Corporation of Louisville created this more “feminine” cocktail as a symbol of the hot pink and white stargazwer garland of lillies that’s adorned by the philly that claims them.

The Oaks Lily®

1 oz. American Harvest Organic Vodka
1 oz. Sweet and Sour Mix
3 oz. Cranberry Juice
Splash of Triple Sec

Once the ingredients are mixed, place the Oaks Lily® in a tall glass with crushed ice, add a straw and garnish with an orange wedge and cherry.

If you want to make the drink truly official, pour the Lily into the official glass found here.  The glass makes a nice party favor to your guests to take home.

 

Horse racing and whiskey cocktails seem to go hand-hand. The Black Eyed Susan is the official cocktail of the Preakness stakes, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.  You don’t have to be at the Pimlico Race Track to enjoy this cocktail.

Black Eyed Susan

1 1/4 oz Johnny Drum Kentucky Bourbon

3/4 oz American Harvest Organic Vodka

3 oz sweet and sour mix

2 oz orange juice

orange slice and cherry for garnish

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously & strain over ice into a collins glass. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry then serve and enjoy.

 

The Belmont Stakes is definitley not an easy breezy race for the thoroughbred’s or their jockey’s.  One trip around Belmont Park on the first Saturday in June is a daunting 1½ miles. That’s about the longest race any thoroughbred will ever run in his life. Jockeys rarely ride that far, either, so when it comes to strategy, there are all kinds of opinions on what it takes to be successful in racing’s “Test of the Champion.’’

Luckily,  all you have to do is sit back and sip on the refreshing drink that was created in 1998 by Dale DeGroff.

“Belmont Breeze”

1 1/2 oz Stetson Bourbon

1/2 oz Dry Sack Medium Dry Sherry

1/2 oz fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz simple syrup

1 1/2 oz fresh orange juice

splash of orange juice

splash of cranberry juice

5 mint leaves

1 mint sprig

1 orange zest

Shake all ingredients with ice & strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh mint sprig and orange peel. Serve and enjoy!