Mint Julep

The official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby, this refreshing cocktail is perfect on a spring day, and very easy to make. Just combine mint, Bourbon, and some Simple Syrup with crushed ice and you have a Mint Julep. It's pretty much that easy. And if you only have a few cocktail ingredients, you'll likely be able to make this one!

Watch out with this one though, there's quite a bit of Bourbon in a Mint Julep, and they can go down very quickly due to wonderful combination of ingredients. Because of this, make sure you're using plenty of crushed ice in the drink. This helps slow things down and dilutes the cocktail somewhat. While this may not sound like much fun, proper dilution is important to a cocktail, especially to make sure flavours aren't too overpowering.

Anyway you drink this cocktail, have fun.

Total Time 4

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

75 mL Bourbon
15 mL Simple Syrup*
6 sprigs Mint

Instructions

Put mint and Simple Syrup in a Julep Cup and muddle together. Don't overdo it here; you want to get the oils out of the mint, not grind it to a pulp. If you don't have proper Julep Cups, a Rocks Glass or any other similar glass will work.
Add Bourbon to the glass.
Fill your glass with crushed ice**, stir well.
Add some more mint as garnish and enjoy.

Notes

*To make Simple Syrup at home, see this recipe.

**If you don't have crushed ice, don't simply put normal ice cubes in the glass. Have the point of this cocktail is the crushed ice. It chills the drink quickly and adds dilution. To make crushed ice easily, put some cubes in a small bag or wrap them in a tea towel. If you're strong enough, smack the wrapped ice cubes on a solid object or hit them with a mallet or rolling pin.

Since this cocktail is essentially sweetened Bourbon, it's important that you use a good one! It will be worth your while. If you're not going to enjoy your Bourbon straight, you're not going to enjoy your Bourbon in a Mint Julep!

On another note, if you're having a bit of a race day celebration, also try whipping up a Man O' War. It's not quite as iconic as the Mint Julep, but it's pretty close. Both cocktails are great Bourbon based drinks and are relatively easy to make (although the Mint Julep is a fair bit more simple). Try the two drinks side by side, see which is your favourite.

Our Review of the Mint Julep

I’ll start this by saying that the Mint Julep is one of those iconic cocktails that I don’t completely see the point of. Then again, I’ve never been to Kentucky, so something may be lost on me. Maybe a Mint Julep is the perfect drink for a hot Kentucky day, and that’s why they’re served so much at the Kentucky Derby.

For me, the difficulty I have with a Mint Julep is all the ice. I understand that you drink it through a straw, but I still feel like I’m missing some of my cocktail when I “finish” it and I can’t quite see if I’ve gotten all the goodness.

In a lot of ways, a Mint Julep is like a Bourbon snow cone (and I don’t like snow cones either…). I just don’t know how to enjoy them.

But enough Mint Julep bashing, what’s good about it? Let’s break down the cocktail. Bourbon, Simple Syrup, and Mint. That’s a winning combination. Bourbon has some natural sweetness to it, but adding some extra sugar to it to compliment the Mint create a great taste sensation. This doesn’t hold as well just served on the rocks, but, despite how I feel about the crushed ice, the flavour combination is great. Maybe it’s because the ice limits the consumption to smaller sips while obviously ensuring a very cold beverage.

So yes, I do have good things to say about the Mint Julep. The crushed ice phenomenon (as I’ll call it) also shows how serving style can drastically alter the flavour and enjoyment of a cocktail. I think simply muddling the Mint and shaking everything wouldn’t work as well. Slowly things down allows for a lot more aroma to come through and a much better cocktail.

As I write this review, I’m starting to come around to the Mint Julep, but only slightly. The ingredient combination and the way it’s served is quite clever, even if it doesn’t completely work for the way I like to enjoy a cocktail.

Perhaps I need to try one of these on a warm day while watching race horses.

6.5/10

Review by Bobby

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