Bourbon, built
Mint Julep
Barline 2,q,Rm
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Bourbon
- 1/4 oz Simple syrup
- Mint
Build in the glass over ice, then lift once with a barspoon.
Rocks, iced, mint.
Taste
Two ounces of bourbon and a quarter ounce of simple over ice, with mint muddled into the glass. A quarter of syrup against a full pour of whiskey is a light hand, so the drink is bourbon and mint oil, cold. It frosts the glass while it sits and it keeps diluting as it goes.
History
The word comes through the Arabic julab, rosewater, and the drink through Persia and Europe, where mint took the place of rose petals. John Davis, in Travels in the United States (1803), defines a julep as a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning. Captain Frederick Marryat carried it back to Britain in 1839 and called it one of the most delightful and insinuating potations that ever was invented. Brandy and rum gave way to whiskey by 1900, and Churchill Downs made it the official drink of the Kentucky Derby in 1938. This menu pours two ounces of bourbon, a quarter ounce of simple, and muddled mint over ice in a rocks glass rather than a silver cup.
Same shape, other bottles
The Old-Fashioned family, with the bottle that changed.
- Old-Fashioneddemerara syrup for simple syrup
- Rum Old Fashionedaged rum and demerara syrup for bourbon and simple syrup
- Scotch Old-Fashionedscotch for bourbon
- Torontorye and demerara syrup for bourbon and simple syrup
- Cornerstonecachaça and grenadine for bourbon and simple syrup
- Improved Coctailrye for bourbon
This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.