Now Mixing: Mint Juleps

It’s julep season once again! It’s our opinion that no Kentucky Derby Day celebration is quite complete without this smooth, sweet Southern cocktail. We’ve curated some of the best and most interesting julep recipes just for you, so roll up your sleeves, grab your muddler, and let’s get mixing!

The Esquire Julep

Esquire magazine’s rendition is about as simple and classic as it gets.

Ingredients

• Mint
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 ounces bourbon

Glass Type
Old-fashioned glass

Instructions
Place five or six mint leaves in the bottom of a pre-chilled, dry 12-ounce glass or silver beaker. Add sugar and crush slightly with a muddler. Pack glass with finely cracked ice. Pour a generous three ounces of Kentucky bourbon over the ice. Stir briskly until the glass frosts. Add more ice and stir again before serving. Stick a few sprigs of mint into the ice for added aroma.

 

The Southern Julep

Denise Gee, a native of Natchez, Mississippi, and writer for Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens, also penned this delightful authority on imbibing below the Mason-Dixon line: Southern Cocktails: Dixie Drinks, Party Potions and Classic Libations.

Ingredients

• 6 – 7 fresh mint leaves
• 1 Tablespoon simple syrup
• 2 ounces bourbon
• Crushed ice

Glass Type
Silver julep cup (or highball)

Instructions

Combine mint leaves, syrup and bourbon in a glass. Using a bar spoon, crush the mint to release its essence into the liquid. Fill the glass with ice. Gently press the spoon into the ice, shaking it to incorporate the bourbon-syrup mixture. Garnish with mint leaves.

 

Southern Living Julep

Southern Living’s recipe gives two specific directions: the use of Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select Bourbon and mint-infused simple syrup.

Ingredients

• 3 fresh mint leaves
• 1 Tablespoon mint simple syrup
• Crushed ice
• 1 ½ to 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) bourbon
• 1 fresh mint sprig
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Glass Type
Silver julep cup

Instructions

Place mint leaves and mint simple syrup in a chilled julep cup. Gently press leaves against cup with back of spoon to release flavors. Pack cup tightly with crushed ice; pour bourbon over ice. Insert straw, place mint sprig directly next to straw, and serve immediately. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

 

Garden & Gun Magazine Julep

Garden & Gun magazine looked to the past for this vintage recipe from Bill Edwards’s 1936 book, How To Mix Drinks.

Ingredients

• 1 glass of Bourbon
• 4 sprigs fresh mint
• 1/2 tbsp. powdered sugar

Glass Type
Silver julep cup

Instructions

In a julep cup, crush the mint leaves and sugar lightly together, add bourbon and fill glass with cracked ice; stir gently until cup is frosted. Decorate with three sprigs of mint on top.

 

Vintage Julep

Thanks again to Garden & Gun magazine for introducing us to Alba Huerta, a veteran mixologist at Houston’s Anvil Bar & Refuge, whose recipe dates back to the early nineteenth century and stars rum and cognac rather than bourbon.

Ingredients

• 8 – 10 mint leaves
• 2 bar spoons of sorghum syrup
• 2 oz. cognac
• ½ ounce Jamaica rum
• Mint sprig
• Powdered sugar

Glass Type
Silver julep cup

Instructions

In a julep cup, lightly muddle 
mint leaves and sorghum syrup. Pour in cognac to rinse off muddler; remove muddler. Fill
the cup three-fourths full with crushed ice and stir with a bar spoon. Add a small dome of crushed ice, and pour rum over the top. Garnish with a mint sprig and a dusting of powdered sugar.

And last, but certainly not least, here’s are julep recipes from two of SpringHouse’s resident  mixologists, Will Abner and Sam Fonte.

 

Will’s Julep

Ingredients

• 2 ounces of your choice of bourbon (Rob prefers Four Roses single barrel, Will: Buffalo Trace, The Derby: Woodford Reserve)
• .5 ounces simple syrup (equal parts hot water and sugar)
• 8 large mint leaves

Glass Type
Silver julep cup

Instructions

Lightly muddle the leaves with the syrup, making sure not to smash them too fine. Add ice and bourbon. Stir. The classic style calls for crushed ice, however I shake ice in a shaker tin, dry, quite vigorously until it’s broken up and add that to my julep cup. Strain your cocktail over ice and add a nice sprig of mint for garnish.

Mixologist note: I’ve also been known to add about .5 oz of Patron Citronge or Grand Mariner to cut the bourbon for our non-bourbon enthusiasts.

 

Sam’s Julep

Beyond the bourbon, sugar, and mint, the only other requirement for this drink is crushed ice. Any other form of ice will not create the same effect, so take the time to create a nice mound of crushed ice before mixing this cocktail.

Ingredients:

• Leaves from 4-5 mint sprigs
• 2 sugar cubes or 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 2 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey
• Mint sprig for garnish

Glass Type
Silver julep cup, Collins glass or double old fashioned glass

Instructions

Place the mint and simple syrup or sugar into a julep cup, Collins glass, double old fashioned glass. Muddle well to dissolve the sugar and to release the oil and aroma of the mint. Add the bourbon. Fill with crushed ice and stir well until the glass becomes frosty. Garnish with the mint sprig.

 

If these recipes haven’t inspired you enough to make a julep of your own, never fear! We’ve got a Derby Day party of our own coming up, and you’re invited – for juleps, big hats and more.

WHAT: Live music, light refreshments, a Best Hat contest, trivia, mint juleps and The Kentucky Derby!

WHEN: Saturday, May 3

WHERE: The Stables at Russell Crossroads

ATTIRE: Casual, with a prize (and praise!) for the Best Hat