Name: Kentucky Buck
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 1 fresh Strawberries (fresh); 60 ml Bourbon whiskey; 22.5 ml Lemon juice; 7.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 2 dash Aromatic bitters; Top up with Ginger beer

Kentucky Buck
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Photographed in an Urban Bar 1910 Highball

Ingredients:
1 fresh	Strawberries (hulled, small & ripe)
2 oz	Bourbon whiskey
³⁄₄ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
2 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Top up with	Thomas Henry Ginger Beer

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon slice wheel and strawberry slice.
MUDDLE strawberry in base of shaker.
Add next 4 ingredients and SHAKE with ice.
FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
TOP with ginger beer and briefly stir.
Garnish with lemon and strawberry slices.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A tall, strawberry influenced bourbon sour with a subtle spicy hint of ginger.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2009 by Erick Castro at Bourbon & Branch, San Francisco, USA.

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Chris Dimal

10th June 2023 at 19:25

A ripping crowd pleaser! I feel like the corn, pepper and charcoal sort of (to me at least) notes of the Bourbon work strangely well with fruity strawberry, with lemon providing suitable acidity, concluding with a satisfying ginger finish. I actually used ginger syrup + soda instead of ginger beer, adhering to the original recipe, because I had no ginger beer to hand.

Johan Alexandersson

4th December 2022 at 18:11

Lacking strawberries I used cloudberries!! What a match!

Ken Boone

4th July 2023 at 04:22

I just tried a strawberry and cloudberry version side by side. I preferred the cloudberry one. Great call!

Andre Derailleur

6th March 2022 at 07:07

Bourbon seems to go so well with soft fruits. I am all for having this as just a sour without the ginger beer, and perhaps with maple syrup instead of sugar syrup. I have had this named as "Kentucky Kiss". Is that a cocktail you would recognise?

Simon Difford

6th March 2022 at 08:44

Checking cocktail Finder, I’ve found a Bourbon Blush with strawberries, bourbon, crème de framboise and maple syrup.

Elisabeth Feltaous

30th December 2021 at 22:39

absolutely delicious. strawberry on the nose, with a ginger finish.

David Dillon

3rd January 2021 at 23:25

Very tasty! Substituted pineapple for lack of strawberries and used Q instead of Fevertree ginger beer. The balance of fruit and bourbon on the opening from the bitters carries through to a ginger finish which is tight and satisfying and not abrasive as ginger beer aftertaste can be.