Taste Testing Belmont Cocktails

The Preakness play time went so well that I decided to do it again. Searching for “Belmont cocktail” generated lots of results and after working my way through a lot of recipes, posts and confusing websites I decided these were the cocktails to test drive.
Belmont Breeze: two versions appeared so we tried them both. Belmont Jewel: only one version but we decided to try a spin as well. Belmont Cocktail and Belmont Stakes: these appear to have nothing to do with the race but since they share the name we tasted them too. We completely ignored the White Carnation, the official cocktail before the Breeze, which just seemed like a fuzzy navel...but not even that appealing. I learned from my previous error of needing to locate an ingredient in the middle of the experiment and stopped by the bar earlier in the day to see what we were missing.
Ingredients gathered, the tasting began.
TWO VARIETIES OF THE BELMONT BREEZE

Belmont Breeze
This is no longer the official drink despite the claim from a website that appeared at the top of the search. Dale DeGroff created this concoction that was featured at the Belmont Stakes for more than a decade. The word seems to be that it was too difficult to mix consistently for the huge crowds that appear but I bet a New York Times review calling it “refined trashcan punch” had something to do with changing to the Jewel in 2012.
Here is the recipe that appeared most consistently:
1 1/2 ounces of a good American blended whiskey
3/4 ounces Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry
1/2 ounce of fresh lemon juice
1 ounce of simple syrup
(1 ounce of sweet and sour mix may be substituted for the lemon juice and simple syrup)
1 1/2 ounces fresh orange juice
1 1/2 ounces cranberry juice
1 ounce 7-Up
1 ounce Club Soda
Shake first six ingredients with ice, then top with 7-Up and club soda. Garnish with mint sprig and lemon wedge.
I also found (on Cocktail.about) this version, very similar but with a change of Sherry, no sparkling soda and more mint:
1 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey
1/2 ounce Dry Sack Medium Dry Sherry
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup Splash of orange juice
Splash of cranberry juice
5 mint leaves
1 mint sprig
1 orange zest
For version one we omitted the mint entirely and for version two we lightly muddled the leaves to further differentiate the two. We used Makerʼs Mark for all of our bourbon. The first was full of nice tart citrus with vanilla and oak on the palate and finish (from the bourbon). It was distinct but not overwhelming until the finish lingered, then the barrel took over. Basically, it was fresh and tasty punch but nothing more. With some time in the glass, the drink improved.
Version two tasted like a salad to me. The mint was intense and prevalent all the way through with the oak and vanilla mingling on the finish. The citrus intensity of the first was almost non-existent. I am not a huge fan of mint, I find it overpowers almost everything else in the cocktail or dish, but I liked this. It also grew on me for a while as it sat in the glass with the bourbon making more of a statement until the mint completely infused the cocktail and dominated everything else.
Belmont Jewel
The official version calls for the following:
1.5 oz Knob Creek Bourbon
2 oz lemonade
1 oz pomegranate juice
Shake vigorously with ice and serve on the rocks. Garnish with maraschino cherry or lemon twist.
We made one as is and subbed pomegranate liqueur (Pama) for the juice in another. The liqueur version had a stronger bourbon nose, perhaps the added alcohol elevated that aroma, and a sweeter palate with a strong(!) bourbon finish. It was good until the very end when the fruity, refreshing style vanished and the drier wood notes changed the drink. The official cocktail showed more balance and, perhaps ironically, a purer sweet middle palate and entry than the one with liqueur. Again, bourbon made a powerful appearance on the finish and the verdict from me, and the others tasting, was that we are not big bfans. This may be something akin to heresy in the horse racing world but I kept thinking rum might have been a better liquor in all of these than bourbon.
TWO BELMONT JEWELS

Perhaps my years in the wine business trained me to view charred oak and strong vanilla notes as flaws rather than elements of a well made beverage. Perhaps the intense notes are simply not my thing. I enjoy Armagnac more than Cognac and rye more than bourbon. I think these cocktails might have all been better for the tasting group with rye but we had plenty of alcohol in front of us already, another round of everything would have been too much. Maybe next year …
Belmont Cocktail
1 1/2 oz Gin
3/4 oz Raspberry sugar syrup
1/2 oz cream
Shake well with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass.
This unusual combination came from Cocktail UK and we used Beefeater Gin and subbed raspberry liqueur for the sugar syrup. The Belmont Cocktail comes from the 1920s according to my reading and it was clear, very quickly, that it came from a different era. “Tastes like hand lotion,” might have been the nicest comment. It smelled awful, “like aspartame [sugar substitute] and Windex,” and tasted worse. My reaction? “Wow, thatʼs bad.” Someone else said, “This is what they served the band as the Titanic went down.” The band deserved better.
Everyone who tried it said it would be better with rum so we tried that. It wasnʼt.
Belmont Stakes
2 oz vodka
1 oz gold rum
1/2 oz strawberry liqueur
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1 tsp grenadine syrup
The last drink of the night packed a punch. We used Absolut vodka and Flor de Cana 4 year old rum. We substituted raspberry liqueur. I thought it smelled great while others called it “cherry Robitussin.” Either way, it did not taste very good. This was a huge improvement over the previous drink but that is about as backhanded a compliment as you will ever find. The nicest thing offered about this cocktail was, “If you added Amaretto it would turn into a red freezy pop,” you know, the ones in a tube you froze as a kid.
The official drink of the last few years at the Belmont Stakes was the best we had all night and that is good news for anyone attending or trying to create as true a version of the event as they can somewhere else.