Have you ever dreamed of having an amazing home bar, filled with bottles you actually use and the tools you need to execute a fine crafted cocktail? Enter the Home Bar Project. Through this series we are going to take this challenge piece by piece. We’ll teach you the proper techniques and make sure the spirits you purchase aren’t collecting dust on your back bar.

About the instructor:
Dan Lan Hamm is a craft bartender at 1 Tippling Place in Philadelphia. He was Pennsylvania's winner of Bombay Sapphire and GQ's Most Imaginative Bartender Competition in 2014. He runs Spirit Forward, a cocktail-centric group which caters local events and provides educational workshops.

This week: How to Make a Brown Derby

The Brown Derby started out as the house cocktail of the chain “Brown Derby Restaurant” in Los Angeles, California. The cocktail has actually outlived the restaurant, and it's still a popular tipple in most fine bars across the country. The interesting thing about this drink is its absence of your traditional lemon/lime sour component. Alternatively, it uses grapefruit juice to balance out the honey’s subtle sweetness to cleverly balance flavors.

Ingredients:

Fresh Grapefruit Juice
Honey Syrup (2:1)
Bourbon

Step 1 of 5:

1/2 oz honey syrup

Tip: We’re using our house recipe which is two parts honey for every one part water.

Step 2 of 5:

1 oz fresh grapefruit juice

Step 3 of 5:

2 oz bourbon

Step 4 of 5:

Add ice and shake

Tip: Since this drink is served up, meaning in a stemmed glass, you want to give it a really solid shake. Shaking for 5-7 seconds as hard as you possible can should do the trick.

Step 5 of 5:

Strain and enjoy

Photos by The Drink Nation