Bourbon Smash

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (12 ratings)

Photographed in an Urban Bar Freddo Old Fashioned

Ingredients:
10 fresh Mint leaves
2 oz Bourbon whiskey
34 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
12 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
3 drop Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water) optional
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of mint sprigs bouquet.
  3. Lightly MUDDLE mint in base of shaker (just to bruise).
  4. Add other ingredients and SHAKE with ice.
  5. FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  6. Garnish with mint sprigs bouquet.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Review:

The lovechild of a Mint Julep and Whiskey Sour, mint and bourbon sit together brilliantly in this simple sour.

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History:

The modern-day notoriety and popularity of the Bourbon Smash is mainly thanks to Dale DeGroff featuring his riff on a Whiskey Cobbler (which called for two muddled orange wedges shaken with whiskey and sugar) in his 2008 book The Essential Cocktail. Dale's "Bourbon Smash" recipe is similar to above but calls for two muddled lemon wedges in place of the juice.

The first "Whiskey Smash" was published in the posthumously published 1887 Jerry Thomas' Bar-tenders Guide (Jerry "The Professor" Thomas died 15th December 1885) where it follows similar "Brandy Smash" and "Gin Smash" recipes. These "Smash" recipes omit citrus juice and are essentially Juleps. Indeed, the three "Smash" recipes follow six "Julep" recipes in the book.

Gin Smash.
(Use small bar-glass.)
Take 1 tea-spoonful of fine white sugar.
2 tea-spoonfuls of water.
1 wine-glass of gin.
3 or 4 sprigs of tender mint.
Put the mint in the glass, then the sugar and water. Mash the mint to extract the flavor, add the gin, and fill up the glass with shaved ice. Stir up well, and ornament with two or three fresh sprigs of mint.

Whiskey Smash.
(Use small bar-glass.)
Take 1 tea-spoonful of fine white sugar.
2 tea-spoonfuls of water.
3 or 4 sprigs of young mint.
1 wine-glass of whiskey.
Proceed, exactly, as directed in the last recipe.

Anonymous, Jerry Thomas' Bar-tenders Guide, 1887

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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23rd May at 05:33
Used a Peach Rock and Rye from Stone Barn Brandyworks in 6:2:1 with lemon and simple, handful of muddled mint, a dash of saline and a splash of fee brothers foamer. Made for an exceptionally well balanced drink, peach shines as a seductive source of rich ketones and mint brightens the whole thing up.