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Almost all grapefruits used in bars up through the 60s tended to be white grapefruit, which is indeed tarter and brighter than pink and even more so than red. Grapefruit was then grown mostly in Florida and the Gulf Coast, and mostly white, pink varieties mutating from those, and Reds not appearing until 1929. In Southern California, white grapefruit was vastly cheaper for bars going through huge amounts of juice. This drink comes from an era when nobody would have put red grapefruit juice on a menu, Ruby grapefruit was saved for eating whole as it was so sweet in comparison. With the California Citrus Revolution that followed WWII, when tech advances allowed truly monumental mass production of citrus even cheaper than in Florida (as Florida has poor quality soil that requires massive fertilizer use for large scale farming), allowing the national explosion of juice heavy Tiki bars, Ruby Reds became more profitable as they could be used for both eating and drinking with less doctoring than whites, thus the Grapefruit Diet Health food craze of the same era. Bars shifted over that period, so that by the 60s and 70s, attractive, sweeter red grapefruit juice replaced the dull looking and tart white. You’ll find using fresh white grapefruit really improves many classic Tiki recipes from Navy Grogs to Zombies and more. And even bottled Ocean Spray type white can have its charm in large builds like the Zombie.
@danielhutson this stuff comes up a lot in craft Tiki spaces, and I’m a bartender with a specialty in rum and tropical cocktails, so I’ve had to explain this a number of times. When you read these old recipes and build them with ruby gf juice, they just come out flat, so then I started researching grapefruits to see if anything was different back then, and voila. I can’t point to you to one book or source that would give you all this, I’m synthesizing a career’s worth of research and connecting the dots between sources so I can explain this stuff to trainees and customers alike, but Matt Pietrek, the excellent rum journalist and author, brings up a lot of the same points in his blog from a couple years ago on the Donga Punch as I recall if you want a more verified source.
Wow the apple cider vinegar is such a creative fix for the problems with the original recipe. Tweaking problematic cocktails from the classic era is a great idea for a series- I’d definitely be interested in seeing more episodes like this!
I'm going to try this out. I immediately wonder though how it would do just acid adjusting the grapefruit instead and maybe using a grapefruit super juice to really dial in that flavor and balance the sweetness.
You almost certainly could get a similar effect, but … there was already a variation done by one of Leandro’s favorite bartenders. Why WOULDN’t he show case that? Plus, adding vinegar is more accessible for casual viewers than measuring out precise amounts of citric and malic acid.
BTW you can even make the original work by adjusting the ratios. Use 60 ml high proof bourbon, 30 ml grapefruit juice, 10 ml honey syrup, a pinch of salt and a grapefruit peel into the shaker.
@@popvoid yes salt tempers the sweetness, and so does the peel shaken with the cocktail. And if the cocktail is still too sweet, then you can always use less honey.
Brown derby is a fun one to play around with. I usually make with a split grapefruit/lime base for some extra acidity. If you want something different all together you can always add a little bit of averna. It plays well with the bitter notes of the grapefruit.
Please do more updates to obscure classic cocktail recipes. I look at old cocktail books and think, "These sound terrible!" It often seem like they are just trying to come up with as many random combination of ingredients that they can to fill the book. I can't imagine anyone drinking some of those cocktails.
Clare Ward's brown derby is one to be careful with, it's very easy to overdo the apple cider vinegar. I usually knock it down to 1/4 oz, or 1-2 bar spoons. Acid adjusting the grapefruit juice is also a good option.
just tried it and unfortunately.. not good. the acv not only leaves a unwelcome odor but a pretty bad aftertaste. I think lemon juice is a much better choice to sharpen up this drink.
This is so interesting. I had exactly the same thoughts after making a brown derby to use up some grapefruit juice leftover from another cocktail. Didn't taste like anything, worse than the sum of its parts. May try the vinegar, or acid adjusting.
I am excited to make this revised version of the Brown Derby redo!! This cocktail has always had something missing but I could never put my finger on it! Now I can! Love this! It's so amazing what a small tweak can do!! I have to try this now because I am super intrigued to see how this new recipe works!! Thanks so much Leandro!! Hope you are well!! Cheers!! 🙂
I like the Brown Derby pretty well, and I'm always interested in making a good drink better. Plus, I'm off this week, so I have the luxury of making a drink in the early afternoon if I want to. So I revised these specs by reducing the amounts by one-third (keeping the proportions the same) and made a two-ounce-build version of the improved Brown Derby -- following the recipe in the video except for the reduction in the size of the finished drink. The result was fantastic. I was surprised by how the apple cider vinegar played with the other ingredients. It was on the nose and on the palate. With apple cider vinegar as an ingredient, this makes a very nice Fall cocktail.
thanks Leandro! ive wanted to enjoy this cocktail back when, and like you said, it falls a bit flat. I happen to have some 100 proof 4 roses recently so i think this little tweak with the apple cider vinegar might be the missing element!! cheers!
I learned about “orange-bitters,” from watching this channel. (“The Educated Barfly) …fun fact, I don’t drink, & i have a distaste for grapefruits, because I feel like “grapefruits,” are deceivingly bitter… …however, when it’s comes to adding “bitterness,” to anything, I think I’d always go with a “grapefruit!” #FlavorShouldntBeASecretingredientReservedExclusivelyForSweetSourSaltyAndOrUmami
Head to geolog.ie/BARFLY70 or scan the QR code on the screen and use code BARFLY70 and they will give you an exclusive 70% off of their award-winning skincare trial set. On top of that you can SAVE BIG on the add-ons products of your choice when you add it to your trial. Thank you Geologie for sponsoring this video!
At the time this cocktail was created, perhaps the variety of grapefruit available was sour enough to balance out the drink?
Or it could've been out of season, which would be a more sour juice.
Almost all grapefruits used in bars up through the 60s tended to be white grapefruit, which is indeed tarter and brighter than pink and even more so than red. Grapefruit was then grown mostly in Florida and the Gulf Coast, and mostly white, pink varieties mutating from those, and Reds not appearing until 1929. In Southern California, white grapefruit was vastly cheaper for bars going through huge amounts of juice. This drink comes from an era when nobody would have put red grapefruit juice on a menu, Ruby grapefruit was saved for eating whole as it was so sweet in comparison. With the California Citrus Revolution that followed WWII, when tech advances allowed truly monumental mass production of citrus even cheaper than in Florida (as Florida has poor quality soil that requires massive fertilizer use for large scale farming), allowing the national explosion of juice heavy Tiki bars, Ruby Reds became more profitable as they could be used for both eating and drinking with less doctoring than whites, thus the Grapefruit Diet Health food craze of the same era. Bars shifted over that period, so that by the 60s and 70s, attractive, sweeter red grapefruit juice replaced the dull looking and tart white. You’ll find using fresh white grapefruit really improves many classic Tiki recipes from Navy Grogs to Zombies and more. And even bottled Ocean Spray type white can have its charm in large builds like the Zombie.
@@Vorchov1 Amazing! How did you know all that? Is that info from a book?
Ruby red is so flat in every cocktail; avoid it is my advice.
@danielhutson this stuff comes up a lot in craft Tiki spaces, and I’m a bartender with a specialty in rum and tropical cocktails, so I’ve had to explain this a number of times. When you read these old recipes and build them with ruby gf juice, they just come out flat, so then I started researching grapefruits to see if anything was different back then, and voila. I can’t point to you to one book or source that would give you all this, I’m synthesizing a career’s worth of research and connecting the dots between sources so I can explain this stuff to trainees and customers alike, but Matt Pietrek, the excellent rum journalist and author, brings up a lot of the same points in his blog from a couple years ago on the Donga Punch as I recall if you want a more verified source.
Wow the apple cider vinegar is such a creative fix for the problems with the original recipe.
Tweaking problematic cocktails from the classic era is a great idea for a series- I’d definitely be interested in seeing more episodes like this!
"Tweaking problematic cocktails from the classic era is a great idea for a series!" This 100%!
I'm going to try this out. I immediately wonder though how it would do just acid adjusting the grapefruit instead and maybe using a grapefruit super juice to really dial in that flavor and balance the sweetness.
It would be interesting if you tried acid adjusting the grapefruit juice.
Why not use acid adjusted grapefruit juice? Wouldn't that give you the same effect?
You almost certainly could get a similar effect, but …
there was already a variation done by one of Leandro’s favorite bartenders. Why WOULDN’t he show case that?
Plus, adding vinegar is more accessible for casual viewers than measuring out precise amounts of citric and malic acid.
BTW you can even make the original work by adjusting the ratios. Use 60 ml high proof bourbon, 30 ml grapefruit juice, 10 ml honey syrup, a pinch of salt and a grapefruit peel into the shaker.
I was thinking while watching this that a couple drops of saline solution might be a good addition.
@@popvoid yes salt tempers the sweetness, and so does the peel shaken with the cocktail. And if the cocktail is still too sweet, then you can always use less honey.
Brown derby is a fun one to play around with. I usually make with a split grapefruit/lime base for some extra acidity. If you want something different all together you can always add a little bit of averna. It plays well with the bitter notes of the grapefruit.
Now I know what to try with the acid adjusted grapefruit super juice I have in my freezer!
Does this taste like a shrub? Does the apple cider vinegar preserve the grapefruit juice well? This could be a good drink to prebatch then shake.
Please do more updates to obscure classic cocktail recipes. I look at old cocktail books and think, "These sound terrible!" It often seem like they are just trying to come up with as many random combination of ingredients that they can to fill the book. I can't imagine anyone drinking some of those cocktails.
I love a brown derby, but this sounds like a much tarter version which I think I'll try out!
Is the updated brown derby more of a shrub now?
This looks like a great variation with just a simple change. I like it.
Clare Ward's brown derby is one to be careful with, it's very easy to overdo the apple cider vinegar. I usually knock it down to 1/4 oz, or 1-2 bar spoons. Acid adjusting the grapefruit juice is also a good option.
How about: 2 oz rye whiskey, 0.5 oz grapefruit juice, 0.5 oz lemon juice, 0.5 oz triple syrup, egg white, garnish with bitters?
What's your take on grapefruit super juice? I know you're big on the lime super juice
just tried it and unfortunately.. not good. the acv not only leaves a unwelcome odor but a pretty bad aftertaste. I think lemon juice is a much better choice to sharpen up this drink.
Hey, so...when you going to make an EB book? Or an app? Or both. Yes. Both.
Hmmm I do love the original a LOT. So hoping to see what happens here.
I am a big fan of the Blinker however in winter time. Love the grapefruit/raspberry/whiskey combo.
I often use a lot weaker honey syrup in mine which might be why I dont get as powerful as a honey note and the grapefruit acidity comes through more.
Wow, glad to see LA representation, Hippo is my favorite restaurant in the area!
Both look incredible. I’ll take one of each please and thank you.
I have to say, this skin care stuff is really annoying.
Please stop.
I acid adjusted the Grapefruit juice and it was ok
This is so interesting. I had exactly the same thoughts after making a brown derby to use up some grapefruit juice leftover from another cocktail. Didn't taste like anything, worse than the sum of its parts. May try the vinegar, or acid adjusting.
I am excited to make this revised version of the Brown Derby redo!! This cocktail has always had something missing but I could never put my finger on it! Now I can! Love this! It's so amazing what a small tweak can do!! I have to try this now because I am super intrigued to see how this new recipe works!! Thanks so much Leandro!! Hope you are well!! Cheers!! 🙂
I like the Brown Derby pretty well, and I'm always interested in making a good drink better. Plus, I'm off this week, so I have the luxury of making a drink in the early afternoon if I want to. So I revised these specs by reducing the amounts by one-third (keeping the proportions the same) and made a two-ounce-build version of the improved Brown Derby -- following the recipe in the video except for the reduction in the size of the finished drink. The result was fantastic. I was surprised by how the apple cider vinegar played with the other ingredients. It was on the nose and on the palate. With apple cider vinegar as an ingredient, this makes a very nice Fall cocktail.
I can not be the only one thinking that brown derby sounds like an euphemism for diarrhea...
thanks Leandro! ive wanted to enjoy this cocktail back when, and like you said, it falls a bit flat. I happen to have some 100 proof 4 roses recently so i think this little tweak with the apple cider vinegar might be the missing element!! cheers!
Nice. I've always wanted to like this drink.
Could you use verjus instead of ACV?
Yeah you probably could. Would be a nice sub I think
Gonna try the updated one tonight for sure.
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mmmmmm good
I learned about “orange-bitters,” from watching this channel. (“The Educated Barfly) …fun fact, I don’t drink, & i have a distaste for grapefruits, because I feel like “grapefruits,” are deceivingly bitter…
…however, when it’s comes to adding “bitterness,” to anything, I think I’d always go with a “grapefruit!”
#FlavorShouldntBeASecretingredientReservedExclusivelyForSweetSourSaltyAndOrUmami
Man, that drink would go great with a nice thick Prime Rib and some potatoes cooked in beef fat!
Tweaking a recipe is always an interesting challenge