COCKTAIL: The Triple Crown

This cocktail originally appeared in the May 5, 2023 edition of The Action Cookbook Newsletter.

Okay, so the Kentucky Derby itself is tomorrow, but today’s a holiday of its own here in Louisville—Oaks Day!

The Kentucky Oaks, which takes place this afternoon, is the second-biggest race of Derby Week, featuring three-year-old fillies running for a million-dollar purse of their own. It’s a heck of an event in its own right, usually drawing a crowd in excess of 100,000 to Churchill Downs. When I say it’s a big deal, understand that both of my kids’ schools are closed for Oaks Day. The city is already running at a fraction of full capacity.

It even has its own cocktail, the Oaks Lily—a cranberry/vodka concoction that’s fine and honestly usually better than a poorly-made Mint Julep.

I decided to use the Oaks Lily as a jumping-off point for this week’s cocktail, but also roll in the coronation by bringing in Queen Elizabeth’s favorite drink, Dubonnet Rouge—a wine-based, quinine-infused aperitif somewhat adjacent to sweet vermouth.

(Liz was said to favor a cocktail of two parts Dubonnet to one part gin.)

Oh! But there’s one other holiday I haven’t even gotten around to discussing yet! As I’m sure you know, today is Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, or “the day your dumbest Facebook friend does something racially insensitive”. I don’t typically observe Cinco de Mayo other than to maybe have a margarita, but hey—it’s in the mix here.

Could I combine all three things—Oaks, coronation, and Cinco de Mayo—into a single, delicious cocktail?

You bet I could. It’s the Triple Crown.

It takes tequila from a margarita, cranberry from the Oaks Lily, Dubonnet from the Queen’s bar, and makes it all work together beautifully with the help of a few ingredients those drinks have common, like lime juice and orange liqueur.

Triple Crown

• 1-1/2 ounces blanco or reposado tequila
• 3/4 ounce Dubonnet Rouge
• 1/2 ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
• 1/2 ounce agave nectar
• 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon Fee Brothers Cranberry Bitters

Combine all the ingredients in an ice-filled shaker, and shake well.

Fill a stemless wine glass—this is the official glassware of an Oaks Lily—to the brim with crushed ice, and strain the shaken cocktail over the ice.

Garnish with a wedge of lime.

When I tell you this was spectacular, you have to trust me. It’s essentially a strong and tasty margarita, but it’s more than that—complex, bright and nuanced. I’ve made this multiple times since initial testing and I’m making a whole pitcher for them for an Oaks get-together we’re having this evening. You should make it too!

—Scott Hines (@actioncookbook)