The Kentucky Buck, a tasteful combination of bourbon, lemon juice, ginger syrup, muddled strawberries, Angostura bitters, and club soda, stands proud as a current classic in elite mixology. Erick Castro, a prominent bartender, concocted this refreshingly bright and fruity cocktail as a tribute to the fresh strawberries of the season in 2009. San Francisco's celebrated cocktail hotspot, Bourbon & Branch, showcased this fantastic fusion for the first time on their spring menu.

The term 'buck', with its roots in Kentucky – the homeland of bourbon – refers to a historic category of drinks, including the famous 'mule' cocktail, known popularly as the Moscow Mule. These drinks traditionally incorporate a core spirit, citrus juice, and either ginger beer or ginger ale. Castro, an enthusiast of the 'buck' category, wanted his version to stand out from the Kentucky Mule, thus paving the way to this fruit-driven variation.

Bourbon & Branch served the delightful cocktail only during the spring season, but it found a new lease of life at another San Francisco whiskey-centric locales, Rickhouse. Castro, at the helm of the beverage program of this Financial District hotspot, implemented the Kentucky Buck as their flagship drink. By his estimates, they sold more than 30,000 servings of the cocktail in its initial year.

'Buck' and 'mule' cocktails are always crowd favorites due to their straightforward yet tantalizing blend of ginger's sweetness and citrus freshness, balanced with a potent spirit and some fizz. This rendition of the recipe retains the fiery essence but adds a twist of mashed strawberries.

Per Castro, the magic ingredient that escalates the cocktail to a higher tier is the Angostura bitters. This rich concoction contributes intricate spice overtones, including cinnamon, clove, and gentian, along with a trace of citrus. The aromatic herbs showcase the spice of the ginger and fresh lemon juice and highlight the oaky traits of the bourbon.

The cocktail uses homemade ginger syrup and club soda to bring forth the freshest zest of ginger with dominant fizz. You could replace it with good quality ginger beer, but it results in a slightly tweaked taste of the drink. If fresh strawberries are not available, defrosted organic frozen berries can replace them effectively.

You start the cocktail with a shaker containing strawberries, ginger syrup, and bitters that you'll need to mash together. The following step involves adding the remaining ingredients, excluding the soda, and shaking it energetically with ice until well chilled. Finally, after fine-straining these into an ice-filled Collins glass and topping it with soda, garnish with a lemon wheel and a whole strawberry to serve.