Mint Juleps

While waiting for our pulled pork to cook, mint juleps seemed like a good drink to make, given that they are from a similar geographical area and also seeing as we had loads of rampantly growing mint. They are traditionally served at the Kentucky Derby, in silvery Julep cups, but we made do with highball glasses given the deplorable lack of Julep cups in our household.

The recipe is very simple:
2 tablespoons simple syrup*
90ml Bourbon
3 large mint sprigs for garnish
crushed ice

Pour the simple syrup into a Julep cup (or other suitable container, e.g. a glass) filled with crushed ice. Stir well, then add the bourbon and stir until a film of ice forms on the exterior of the cup. Garnish with mint sprigs.

Some recipes say to crush / muddle the mint, which we did afterwards to get a little more minty flavour and enjoyed it more than before crushing. It makes it a bit like a bourbon-based mojito. I ended up making simple syrup with golden caster sugar and the result was a dark brown syrup rather than the clear one that results from making it with white sugar. It made the drink look darker than it usually is, but I thought it looked pretty good. A little too sweet for our tastes though; if I make them again I’ll use less sugar syrup.

* to make this, simply take equal measures of water and sugar and heat and stir until all the sugar is dissolved, then leave it to cool before using