"It is the very dream of drinks, the vision of sweet quaffings. The Bourbon and the mint are lovers. In the same land they live, on the same food they are fostered. The mint dips its infant leaf into the same stream that makes the bourbon what it is. The corn grows in the level lands through which small streams meander. By the brook-side the mint grows. As the little wavelets pass, they glide up to kiss the feet of the growing mint, the mint bends to salute them. Gracious and kind it is, living only for the sake of others. The crushing of it only makes its sweetness more apparent. Like a woman’s heart, it gives its sweetest aroma when bruised. Among the first to greet the spring, it comes. Beside the gurgling brooks that make music in the pastures it lives and thrives."
- J. Soule Smith, The Mint Julep: The Very Dream of Drinks, 1949
The Mint Julep can be traced back to the middle east from a drink called a Joulab which was made with Rosewater and rose petals. It was probably a way to make the drinking water more palatable and safer to drink. Back in the day if you weren't lucky enough to have a running stream on your property, you had to improvise a safer way to drink water. At some point the Joulab made it's way to the new world and here it began it's transformation into what would become the modern Mint Julep.
The modern drink found fame thanks to a United States Senator Henry Clay who began his political career in 1807. He made the drink famous at the Willard Hotel's Round Robin Bar in Washington D.C. Where he shared it with his fellow congressmen who no doubt also shared the drink with their friends.
It made an appearance in Jerry Thomas' How to mix drink or the Bon Vivant's Companion in 1862 with it's less notable cousin the Whiskey Smash which is basically a Mint Julep with the addition of seasonal fruit.
In 1938 it was made the official drink of the Kentucky Derby which is what it is most often associated with. The Kentucky Derby was and still is one of the most prestigious seen and be seen events of the year. These days the Kentucky Derby sells Mint Juleps to something like 150,000 people who attend the Kentucky Derby.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the video and this great summer sipper!
Specs:
2oz or 60ml bourbon
.50z or 15ml Simple Syup
small handful of Mint (6-8 leaves)
1 Sugar Cube
build in julep chalice
light muddle to combine sugar and press mint
add crushed (or pebble) Ice
light stir
add snow cone of ice on top
Garnish with a generous bundle of mint
5 июл 2018
