Belmont Jewel Recipe: How to Make the Official Drink of the Belmont Stakes

Key Takeaways:

• Today, the official drink of the Belmont Stakes is the Belmont Jewel, made with bourbon, lemonade, and pomegranate juice, and served over ice with a lemon twist.
• In the past, other drinks have been the official Belmont cocktail, specifically the White Carnation (vodka, peach liqueur, orange juice, soda water, and cream) and the Belmont Breeze (a complex blend of whiskey, sherry, citrus juices, and sodas).
• Each drink has plenty of room for personal twists. For instance, try swapping citrus, adding egg white or aquafaba, or experimenting with different spirits.

The 2025 Belmont Stakes is coming up on Saturday, June 7. Whether your Belmont party is casual or fancy, good drinks will elevate the experience. And, every Triple Crown race has its own special drink. Just like the Kentucky Derby has the mint julep and the Preakness Stakes has the Black-Eyed Susan, there is also an official Belmont Stakes drink: the Belmont Jewel.

Here’s how to make the Belmont Jewel, as well as some other delicious drinks for your Belmont party.

How to Make the Belmont Jewel

The official recipe for the Belmont Jewel requires just a few simple ingredients. These are the amounts for a single drink:

• 1 ½ oz. bourbon whiskey
• 2 oz. lemonade
• 1 oz. pomegranate juice
• Lemon twist
• Fresh ice cubes for shaking and serving

In terms of glassware, making a Belmont Jewel requires a cocktail shaker with a strainer, as well as a double old-fashioned glass.

The official recipe served at the Belmont uses Redemption brand bourbon, though the Belmont Jewel has used different premium bourbons due to marketing and sponsorship changes. Go ahead and use whichever your favorite brand of bourbon is—or pick up a few before the party and taste them to find which one is your favorite in the Belmont Jewel.

Mix It Up

Pour the bourbon, lemonade, and pomegranate juice into a cocktail shaker filled with fresh ice. Shake the Belmont Jewel vigorously until the ingredients are mixed together and refreshingly cold.

Pour and Garnish

Place some fresh ice cubes into the double old-fashioned glass. Pop the strainer on top of the cocktail shaker, and pour the cocktail over the ice cubes in the glass. Garnish with a lemon twist—or, though it’s unofficial, some prefer a lemon wedge or lemon wheel.

Historical Official Cocktails of the Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Jewel is the current official drink of the Belmont Stakes. However, that has not always been the case. It seems like official cocktails change regularly for the Belmont.

Fortunately, those previous Belmont cocktails are just as delicious as ever. Whether you like a retro feel at your summer parties or you just like to make different drinks to suit different people’s tastes, you can change it up by making these historical Belmont cocktails.

White Carnation

Just like the official Preakness cocktail, the Black-Eyed Susan, shared its name with the flowers awarded to the winner, so it was with the first official cocktail of the Belmont Stakes. The official Belmont drink before 1997, the White Carnation, is a creamy, fruity concoction—often compared to an orange Creamsicle, it is a dessert all in itself.

Start with the simple version. And then, there are some common changes to the drink. It’s a great place to experiment, so don’t be shy to make your own twist on the original official Belmont drink!

Simple Shaken White Carnation

The ingredient list cited at The Spruce Eats is a good, classic plan for a White Carnation. Gather together:

• 2 oz. vodka
• ½ oz. peach liqueur (traditionally Mathilde Péche, which is a bit less sweet than most brands)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 2 to 3 oz. soda water
• A splash of cream
• A slice of orange
• Fresh ice cubes

Feel free to play with the proportions: some recipes go as low as 1 ½ ounces of vodka, or bump up the peach liqueur to ¾ ounce for a fruitier experience.

Glassware for this cocktail includes a mixing glass, a bar spoon, a strainer, and a highball glass.

Fill the mixing glass with ice. Pour the vodka, peach liqueur, and orange juice into the mixing glass, and stir well with the bar spoon. Make sure to stir it thoroughly enough to chill the drink, combine the flavors, and get just enough ice melt to make it smooth.

Fill the highball glass with fresh ice, and strain the drink out of the mixing glass into the highball glass. Top with soda water to taste, as well as a splash of cream, and garnish with the orange slice.

Additional Flavors for the White Carnation

A common change to the White Carnation, giving it an even creamier feel, is to make it with egg white—or aquafaba, if you or your guests prefer a vegan option. When going this route, the cocktail must be shaken and not stirred, so it requires a cocktail shaker instead of a mixing glass and bar spoon.

Some bartenders also like to swap out the orange juice for other citrus, like lemon or lime juice. Since lemon and lime are stronger and more tart compared to orange, start with less juice than the orange juice: try ¾ oz. or 1 oz. and adjust from there. Also, consider adding ½ oz. or ¾ oz. of simple syrup to compensate for the tartness and try to capture the idea of a lemon or lime Creamsicle.

Belmont Breeze

Celebrity bartender Dale DeGroff created a new drink to supplant the White Carnation starting at the 1998 Belmont Stakes. A fabulously complex drink, the base features both bourbon and sherry, mixed with a veritable garden of flavors.

Here are the ingredients for the Belmont Breeze:

• 1 ½ oz. blended American whiskey
• ¾ oz. sherry (typically Harveys Bristol Cream sherry)
• ½ oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. simple syrup
• 1 ½ oz. orange juice
• 1 ½ oz. cranberry juice
• 1 oz. lemon-lime soda (typically 7-Up)
• 1 oz. club soda
• Mint sprig
• Strawberry
• Fresh ice cubes

As is so common with drinks, there’s plenty of room for experimentation here. Instead of a blended whiskey, some prefer either bourbon or rye in a Belmont Breeze, so play with whiskies to find the perfect one. A few muddled mint leaves in the cocktail glass are another popular accent to the Belmont Breeze.

Glassware for the drink includes a cocktail shaker, strainer, and a cocktail glass or highball glass.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour the whiskey, sherry, lemon juice, simple syrup, orange juice, and cranberry juice. Shake until it is well mixed, chilled, and smooth.

Put fresh ice into a cocktail glass or highball glass. Put the strainer on top of the cocktail shaker, and pour the mixture into the glass. Top with lemon-lime soda and club soda. Garnish with a mint sprig and a strawberry.

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