One of my favorite events heralding the beginning of the summer is the Kentucky Derby. Each year I have lived in New York, I have gathered my friends to celebrate to varying degrees of success. This year, I found an awesome bar in Bed Stuy (Beast of Bourbon) which was not only showing the derby on a big screen but also had great drink specials such as two-for-one frozen Bourbon drinks. It doesn’t get much better than that on a Saturday afternoon. Big hats in tow, we all headed down to watch the race.

Here is the preparation for the race. What I love most about the Kentucky Derby is the pageantry surrounding the race, from ridiculous hats to carefully prepared mint juleps. The stories behind the horses, their owners, and their riders are always fascinating. I chose Danza to win (no actual bets this time), since he had won the Arkansas Derby. The winner of the race ended up being California Chrome, who pulled ahead lengths at the end of the race. If you can’t actually be at the race, watching it on a big screen with dedicated fans is just as fun.

Sarah very seriously contemplates the race. Aside from frozen drinks, we all sampled the food that Beast of Bourbon had to offer. In addition to BBQ, they had plenty of sides to choose from. I just got the mac and cheese, which was delicious. It was creamy and cheesy goodness packed with veggies. The happy hour there is such a great deal, I would come back for BBQ and drinks.

Not entirely Kentucky Derby related, but I couldn’t resist a cat picture. There is Evan Williams in the picture, and it was taken on Derby Day.