Racing to Find the Perfect Mint Julep

The mint julep holds a special place in my heart. Prior to attending the Kentucky Derby in May 2013, Mr. Five O’Clock and I were die-hard wine fans and wouldn’t give cocktails much of a second thought. However, once we tasted this delicious, boozy concoction on Derby Day, we realized that—gasp!—bourbon could be just as interesting as a glass of Bordeaux or Barolo.

The mint julep became the official drink of the Kentucky Derby in 1938, but it turns out that they’ve been around much longer than that. According to David Wondrich’s Imbibe!, a “julep” was simply medicine at first (as early as 900 AD or even before that). How it turned into an alcoholic beverage is still up for debate, but Wondrich tells us that the original spirit of choice for a julep was actually French cognac (not whiskey!).

Given the variety of julep recipes out there, we thought we’d conduct a mint julep taste test of our own. Which version of this drink would wind up reigning supreme?

In true detective fashion, I conducted a very sophisticated focus group during yesterday’s 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby (read: invited over Miss Scarlet and Bourbon Broad for drinks). While the Kentucky Derby may be the quickest two minutes in sports, our debate about mint juleps proved to be the longest twenty-two minutes in the history of our taste tests. Find out which julep we’d drink over and over again.

Version #1: The Classic Mint Julep

For this version, we used the following recipe:

.25 oz raw sugar syrup
8 mint leaves
2 oz bourbon
Bitters (optional)
1 mint sprig

Directions: Lightly muddle the mint and syrup in a julep cup (or rocks glass). Add bourbon. Pack with crushed ice; stir until cup is frosted on the outside. Top with more crushed ice. Garnish with a mint spring. For a little something extra, add a few drops of bitters.

Scene: A trio of thirsty participants, one classic mint julep, and a table full of chips & salsa and Momofuku Milk Bar cake balls.

Bourbon Broad: This is really good. Oooh, I’m tasting a lot of bourbon here.
Mr. Five O’Clock: It kind of seems like an Old Fashioned with mint in it. And I do really like Old Fashioneds.
Bourbon Broad: I love the taste of bourbon, so you can’t go wrong with this drink. Oh, but these Momofuku Milk Bar cake balls are so good too. Now I’m fully distracted by this cake ball.
Miss Scarlet: Ooooh. This drink looks like a giant alcoholic snow cone. Ahh, snow cones. But these cake balls though…

Version #2: The Peach-Ginger Julep

Peaches just scream summer, don’t they? Between the warm weather vibe these fruits were giving off, plus the fact that this next recipe comes from acclaimed chef Bobby Flay, we figured that this julep would be a home run. We modified the amounts in Flay’s recipe and wound up using:

1/4 ripe peach, roughly chopped
1/4 oz simple syrup
4 or 5 fresh mint leaves, plus mint sprigs for garnish
2 oz bourbon
Crushed ice
1.5 oz dry ginger ale

Directions: Muddle the peach, simple syrup and mint leaves. Stir in the bourbon. Fill glass with crushed ice; strain peach-bourbon mixture into the glasses and top off with ginger ale. Garnish with mint sprig.

Bourbon Broad: It looks so cool in the cup. It’s a photogenic drink.
Miss Scarlet: This one tastes sweeter to me.
Bourbon Broad: You know, this drink is like a mix between a mint julep and a mojito. Like if you wanted a mojito to be even more refreshing, if that’s possible. It has the lightness and easy drinking combination, just like a mojito.
Miss Scarlet: I wonder what this would taste like if you tried frozen peaches instead of fresh ones, since these peaches aren’t as sweet as the ones we get in summer. The peaches need to be slightly riper.
Bourbon Broad: Peaches? Ripening peaches is not in my skill set.
Mr. Five O’Clock: (laughing) If we moved back to California, we wouldn’t have to worry about produce being in season…

Version #3: The Fig Julep

For our third iteration, we decided to go with a more complex twist on the mint julep. We slightly tweaked this next recipe and went with the following:

2 oz bourbon
.75 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liquor
.5 oz lime juice
.25 oz tawny port
.25 oz simple syrup
2 dried black figs (muddled)
3 mint leaves
Ice
1 mint sprig

Directions: Combine figs, port, simple syrup, and lime juice into glass. Muddle into nice paste. Add mint leaves, bourbon, and St. Germain. Add ice and shake vigorously for 8-10 seconds. Strain contents over ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with mint sprig.

Bourbon Broad: This drink is really, really good. It doesn’t taste like a mint julep to me, though. The extra components definitely change the flavor.
Mr. Five O’Clock: The tawny port gives it a nice nuttiness. This drink is dangerous—I could probably drink 3 or 4 of these without realizing it because of the sweetness.
Bourbon Broad: This is the kind of drink you’d get in some fancy speakeasy. It’s complex; more of a craft cocktail you’d find around here in New York.
Miss Scarlet, waxing poetic about her past: This tastes like my grandma. Bourbon always reminds me of her. She played cards, she taught me to knit, and she drank bourbon on the rocks while she watched me. She passed when I was 16—obviously I wasn’t drinking bourbon then—but now this drink, all of these drinks, with the bourbon remind me of her.

The Verdict

Our very official focus group was split on the issue of which drink was the best, leading to much debate (note that we did pause to watch the actual Kentucky Derby race at this point, just long enough to see Nyquist gallop on to victory).

Bourbon Broad: All right, so we have a bourbon snow cone, a mint julep mojito, and a classic craft cocktail.
Miss Scarlet: On a normal day, I’d drink #3, but on Derby Day, I’d still have to go with the classic, #1.
Bourbon Broad: I actually would prefer to drink #1 most of the time. If I’m feeling fancy, I’d order #3.
Mr. Five O’Clock: I like #3 the best, even though it doesn’t taste like a traditional mint julep. As much as I like bourbon-forward drinks, I’d probably get an Old Fashioned over a classic mint julep. With the fig julep, it’s just the thing to sweeten the day when your horse loses the race.

After further rounds of discussion, the fig julep beat out the rest by one vote. However, there was one thing we agreed on unanimously: no matter what version of the mint julep you like the best, the Kentucky Derby will always remain a great excuse to get together with friends and enjoy refreshing bourbon cocktails. Who knows, if it’s a really good mint julep, you may even finish it before the horses cross that finish line!