How To Serve The U.S. Open's Official Drink, The Honey Deuce, At Home

Forbes

3 days ago

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 07: The Grey Goose Suite at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on September 7, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo byfor Grey Goose) Getty Images
The U.S. Open takes over the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center grounds in Queens, New York every year at the end of August, before summer nights fade into fall. And so does the Honey Deuce, the official cocktail of the U.S. Open.
The drink debuted at the 2006 U.S. Open when Grey Goose became a sponsor, and in recent years the sipper has catapulted to its own form of celebrity. No one at the U.S. Open would dare leave without posing with their Grey Goose Honey Deuce.
Can't snag a ticket to the U.S. Open this year? No problem—you can still sip like you're courtside. Molly Horn, chief mixologist and spirits educator at Total Wine & More, offered up tips for making the best version of this signature cocktail at home, whether you're toasting solo during a nail-biter match or serving a crowd at your own Grand Slam watch party.
There is something so special about the Honey Deuce at the U.S. Open; so much so that it may not feel the same drinking from home. Do you have any tips, tricks or hacks for ensuring it still tastes awesome even when making it yourself?
Horn: I would imagine for most home bartenders the challenge is the honeydew melon balls. There are plenty of great, quality lemonades on the market if you can't make it fresh yourself, and Chambord and Baron De Casterac are great (black) raspberry liqueurs — another option if you want a straight raspberry liqueur is Drillaud.
For those honeydew balls, I would recommend getting a melon baller — which will make the process much faster and easier — and attacking the whole melon. If you haven't done this before, it's actually super easy, but having the right tool will make all the difference.
If you do you want to make lemonade yourself, the key is to use fresh lemon juice and whisk it together aggressively with equal amounts of granulated sugar — the lemon juice will break down and dissolve the sugar much better than adding it to water alone first — then add your filtered water. I prefer a ratio of one part lemon juice, one part sugar, and four parts water for a nice and brightly tangy lemonade, but if that's too sweet or sour for you you can always adjust — just do so before you add it to the cocktail.
What's the most common mistake people make when trying to recreate the Honey Deuce at home?
Horn: A majority of the challenges I see for the home mixologist with this cocktail is using a shelf-stable lemonade that doesn't have the zip or tang of a fresh lemonade. Since that is the foundation of the cocktail, it's really important to either purchase fresh lemonade (from the refrigerated section of your shop or market, with a sell-by date within one to two weeks) or make it yourself.
Can you talk through batching this cocktail and what that looks like?
Horn: This is a great recipe for batching since it doesn't require any dilution (aka, it doesn't get shaken or stirred, just poured together). My biggest tip, as always, is just to make sure all of your ingredients are very cold (vodka in the freezer, other ingredients in the fridge for 24 hours+ before serving) in order to minimize over-dilution of your batch. I also recommend freezing melon balls overnight — not only will they work better to keep your batched cocktail nice and chilled, but they won't melt and over-dilute the way ice cubes would.
Glassware and ice are also so important to this drink — what do you suggest?
Horn: I like to serve it in a tall glass, like a Collins or a Highball. I personally prefer to freeze the honeydew balls and use those for 'ice' (since I also have my ingredients for the cocktail chilled in advance), but if you want to go for real ice it would look and taste great with a highball ice cube. You can find ice trays that make four long, wide, ice cubes that will fill up the length of your glass, keep your cocktail nice and cold, and take a long time to melt — allowing you to enjoy it at your leisure.
Are there any other spins on this cocktail that could make it a bit more unique, while keeping the essence?
Horn: This recipe is a great one for riffing — for one thing, using a sparkling lemonade adds a great effervescence I really enjoy. Elderflower plays nicely with the flavors in the cocktail, so adding a splash of elderflower liqueur or syrup is a really nice addition. And of course, many different fruit liqueurs will work great in place of raspberry if you want to switch it up, such as Drillaud Strawberry Liqueur or any of the Chinola flavors — which would also add a nice texture — especially passion fruit or pineapple.