Recipes

Mint Julep - the fresh drink

Mint Julep - the fresh drink

Mint Julep - St. Kilian Style

From the St. Kilian "classic whisky cocktails" series

Ingredients for our variation:

Preparation of the St. Kilian variation of the Mint Julep

Press the mint into the palms of your hands and mix it with the St. Kilian single malt whisky and cane sugar syrup in a cup. Allow the drink to steep for five minutes and then remove the mint. Fill the tumbler to the brim with ice and stir again. Fill completely with ice and serve with a glass straw and fresh mint.

"Pure Southern Feeling with St. Kilian Single Malt Whisky".

Juleps already appear in the earliest bar books. Despite this, they tend to have a niche existence in modern bars. The dream of whiskey and mint hardly ever makes it onto bar menus or is handed over the bar very much.

But we think this classic deserves more attention, because it is anything but a dusty classic. That's why we're introducing you to the "first American cocktail" in a little more detail and, of course, also have a little recipe with our single malt whiskies for you.

Our recipe video for the Mint Julep Cocktail

David Gran mixes the perfect mint julep whisky cocktail for St. Kilian with our Bud Spencer - The Legend - Single Malt Whisky:

Is the Mint Julep DrinkPersian, European or American?

The term julep is derived from the Persian "Gul-Ab", meaning rose water. But what does that have to do with our whiskey classic?

The deep roots of the drink go back to recipes from the 16th century. At that time, however, it was more of a non-alcoholic refreshment or medicinal drink made from rose water and clear sugar. The whole thing was flavoured with herbs, such as mint.

Here lies the connection to the Mint Julep Cocktail.

Presumably, European settlers took these recipes with them to the New World and so, with the addition of a spirit and the substitution of rose water, a drink developed that enjoyed great popularity. But this did not happen until two centuries later.

The first records of the mint julep, in the form of whiskey, sugar and mint, date back to the 1770s. This makes it probably one of the first documented American drinks.

The cocktail probably began its popularity in the drinking establishments of its time in New York in the late 18th century. There it is said to have been served in large numbers for the first time in the hotel bar of the City Hotel.

How is the Mint Julep Cocktail served?

Serving is silver

But the drink was not only popular because of its taste. It was served in a silver cup, which also made it a visual eye-catcher. But not only the optical properties of the precious metal were exploited. The thermal conductivity of the material also had a great impact on the drink. At a time when ice was not permanently available, the drink could be kept at an unusually cold temperature thanks to the good thermal properties of silver, so that the added ice did not start to melt so quickly.

Nowadays, this form of serving has been largely preserved. The drink is no longer served only in silver cups, but rarely in classic glasses, but in cup shapes of all kinds.

Now it's time to introduce you to the classic mint julep recipe:

Ingredients for the classic Mint Julep recipe:

For the preparation of the classic you need:

  • 6 cl bourbon whiskey
  • 2 bar spoons cane sugar syrup
  • 15 leaves fresh mint
  • Crushed ice

Press the mint into the palms of your hands and mix with the rest of the ingredients in a cup. Allow the drink to steep for five minutes and then remove the mint. Fill the cup to the brim with ice and stir again. Fill completely with ice and serve with a glass straw and fresh mint.

But of course we didn't miss out and created our own variation of the Mint Julep with our single malt whiskies.

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