Bourbon’s Modern Classics: The Kentucky Buck & Iron Ranger

September is Bourbon Heritage Month, and this week on Into The Barchive, hosts Tim Wright and Dr. Blake Jones are celebrating America’s native spirit by looking forward instead of back.Rather than focusing on dusty bottles and Prohibition-era classics, Tim and Blake explore two modern bourbon cocktails that have already earned their place in the contemporary cocktail canon: Eric Castro’s Kentucky Buck and Iron Ranger. Both drinks show just how versatile bourbon can be, pairing it with everything from fresh strawberry and ginger to pineapple, falernum, citrus, and bitters.Along the way, they break down what officially makes a whiskey bourbon, why bourbon doesn’t actually have to come from Kentucky, and how National Bourbon Heritage Month became an annual celebration of one of America’s most important spirits.The guys also dive into the career and philosophy of bartender Eric Castro, whose influential cocktails have appeared on menus around the world. From his work at Bourbon & Branch to bars like Polite Provisions and Raised by Wolves, Castro helped shape the West Coast cocktail renaissance with a simple philosophy: great cocktails should be thoughtfully crafted without sacrificing hospitality or approachability.Then it’s into the drinks. The Kentucky Buck combines bourbon, fresh strawberry, lemon, ginger, bitters, and soda into a refreshing modern classic that reportedly sold tens of thousands of glasses after finding a home at San Francisco’s Rickhouse. The Iron Ranger, meanwhile, takes bourbon somewhere unexpected—straight into the world of tropical cocktails, where pineapple, falernum, lemon, and baking spices prove that rum isn’t the only spirit that belongs under a mountain of pebble ice. It’s a celebration of bourbon’s past, present, and future—and a reminder that cocktail history is still being written every time a great new drink earns a permanent spot behind the bar.Keep exploring the past, one drink at a time, with Into The Barchive.