Kentucky Derby drinking: Mint Julep

Thats pretty much it, but like all simple and traditional things it is a den of "this is the only true and correct way to do it."

Personally, I like to make a simple syrup and infuse it with mint. Strain the mixture and add it to bourbon. Then I rub mint along the rim of the glass and pile it high with ice from Hansen's.

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Personally, I like to make a simple syrup and infuse it with mint

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This is key.


Also, another poster had a great suggestion the other day about going to sonic and getting a couple bags of ice for them, my main issue with making them at home has always been the crushed ice isnt that crunchy really good crushed ice. The sonic ice should solve that issue

yeah 1:1 ratio is what i do, just put the mint in there at the beginning, then strain out the leaves at the end of the process

how much syrup in a drink? a tablespoon or two?

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Probably an ounce to 3 ounces of bourbon would be my ratio. The ice is going to melt and dilute the drink, but you want that. The goal is a slightly sweet icy bourbon with just the faintest whisper of mint.

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thanks!

About 5 years ago, I went to Iris (when it was Uptown) on Derby Day and had a parsley and gin julep. It was fantastic.

Any good bar should be able to do it.

However, the ice is key, and for that reason alone I'd direct you to Bellocq. Also, you could try High Hat, Cure, or Loa.

Oddly enough, Pat O's I think makes one that is pretty much as good as anywhere else.

I read a book several years ago called Lanterns on the Levee. It was an autobiography by William Alexander Percy. Great book. Anyway, he has a recipe for mint julep in there and that's how I've made them ever since. It's more like drinking straight bourbon, until you get to the bottom, then the julep made with simple syrup. I like straight bourbon.

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First you needed excellent bourbon whisky; rye or Scotch would not do at all. Then you put half an inch of sugar in the bottom of the glass and merely dampened it with water. Next, very quickly - and here is the trick in the procedure - you crushed your ice, actually powdered it, preferably in a towel with a wooden mallet, so quickly that it remained dry, and slipping two sprigs of fresh mint against the inside of the glass, you crammed the ice in right to the brim, packing it with your hand. Last you filled the glass, which apparently had no room left for anything else, with bourbon, the older the better, and grated a bit of nutmeg on the top.

The glass immediately frosted and you settled back in your chair for a half an hour of sedate cumulative bliss. Although you stirred the sugar at the bottom, it never all melted, therefore at the end of the half hour there was left a delicious mess of ice and mint and whisky which a small boy was allowed to consume with calm rapture. Probably the anticipation of this phase of a julep was what held me on the outskirts of these meetings rather than the excitement of the discussion, which often I did not understand.

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