Recipes

3 Winning Cocktail Recipes from The Deighton Cup

Bring the fabulous flair of The Deighton Cup into your home with three winning recipes from The Cocktail Jockey Mixology Competition

By Safeeya Pirani /

Credit: Charles Zuckerman

Wow guests at your next party with the best cocktails from The Deighton Cup’s mixology competition

The Deighton Cup is one of the city’s most stylish events. Vancouverites dress to impress in elegant attire for a day of derby action, fashion, entertainment and food at the Hastings Racetrack. And of course, there’s nothing like an old-fashioned day at the races without some booze. Each year, the Cocktail Mixology Competition brings together the crème de la crème of mixologists and bartenders from around town to shake and stir up the ultimate award-winning cocktail.

On July 16, the 4th Annual Cocktail Mixology Competition will have 14 of B.C.’s top bartenders recreating a modern twist on the traditional Whiskey Cobbler cocktail before an all-star judging panel to win $1,000 cash and the esteemed Boothby Julep Trophy. 

So what makes an award-winning cocktail? It’s no secret anymore. Click through for three recipes from previous winners for you to enjoy at home…



The Gutierrez Cocktail (based on a mint julep) by Sean McGuigan, The Clough Club, 2013 winner

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 oz. Bulliet Bourbon
  • 0.5 oz. Fidencio Clasico Mezcal
  • 0.5 oz. Chocolate Liqueur (made ahead)*
  • 2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters
  • Mint sprig
  • Powdered icing sugar (garnish)

*Chocolate Liqueur

  • 5 oz. cocoa nibs
  • 1 oz. Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
  • 5 cinnamon sticks
  • 6 open vanilla bean pods
  • 13 oz. Lambs 151-proof Navy Rum
  • Combine ingredients in a jar and let stand overnight. Strain.

Instructions

  1. Lightly slap the mint sprig to bruise and wipe the inside of a cocktail coupe or small tumbler with the mint sprig.
  2. Rim the glass with powdered sugar. 
  3. Place the mint sprig back in the cocktail glass. 
  4. In a mixing glass, combine bourbon, mezcal, chocolate liqueur, and bitters. Stir with ice to taste.

TO SERVE

  • Pour the mixture into the cocktail glass over the mint sprig.

 



Bartender’s Wake Up (based on an old-fashioned) by Cam Brown, The Blackbird, 2014 winner

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 oz Bulliet Bourbon
  • 1 vanilla infused sugar cube*
  • 2 oz of Wake Up**

*Vanilla-infused sugar cubes

  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1 box of sugar cubes
  • Seal in an air-tight vessel for 2 weeks

**Wake Up

  • .25 oz coffee bitters
  • 1 375 ml bottle JJ Bean East Side Roast cold brew coffee
  • Zest of a whole lemon and orange
  • 1/4 cup devil’s root
  • Vacuum-seal and “cook” sous vide for 1.5 hours at 70 degrees

Instructions

  1. Stir in a shaker of ice and strain over rocks in a stemmed cocktail glass.

To Serve

  • Garnished with orange zest and spray with lemon oil, but discard the peel.


Credit: Charles Zuckerman

Monkey’s Tail (based on a Horse’s Neck) by Sean McGuigan, The Clough Club, 2015 winner

INGREDIENTS

  • 1.5 oz Bulliet Bourbon
  • .5 oz Homemade Spice Mango Liqueur (make ahead)*
  • Ginger Beer

*Mango Liqueur

  • 1 bottle Lambs 151 rum
  • 2 fresh mangoes
  • 1 cup honey syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • .5 tsp cloves
  • .5 tsp each green and black cardamom
  • Pinch saffron
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 long pepper
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • .25 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
  • Combine ingredients in a jar and let stand overnight. Strain.

Instructions

  1. Build over crushed ice in a Collins glass.

To Serve

  • Garnish with purple orchid.