Mint Julep Lessons

You know, I was only partially joking about the animal cruelty bit in my prior post, but wouldn't you know it, they had to euthanize a horse at the end of the race. What a buzz kill. Maybe they could find another event to preserve the Mint Julep.

In any event, I didn't let a little horse death interfere with the drinking of the tasty Mint Julep.

I experimented. Makers Mark warns against using too much mint, but I threw caution to the wind and used a copious amount. Other than that, I pretty much followed the Maker's recipe.

I minted the bourbon and made a minted simple syrup. I didn't have an ice shaver, so I used an ice crusher, which worked well.

If I were to do it again, I would make the minted simple syrup and skip the minting of the bourbon. Minted simple syrup is also good for Mojitos, as I figured and tried on Friday evening as I was preparing stuff.

Make the minted simple syrup by bringing to boil a couple cups of water and then adding a bunch of mint leaves. I probably used 40-45 leaves. I let it simmer for a few minutes, until the water was a light green color. I ran the leaves and water through a cheese cloth, and returned the leaf-free water to the pan and added a cup and a half of sugar, and heated it back up until the sugar dissolved.

A few tid-bits on the drink:

• Pack the glass with crushed ice. I would also put the glasses in the freezer prior to use.
  
• Make 'em strong. The first sip should be strong, because as the ice melts, the drink gets sweeter (maybe some chemist could tell me why this is the case).
  

Also made short ribs and corn bread. Weber's Big Book of Grilling has an excellent recipe for a rub and home made BBQ sauce. I put the ribs in the oven for several hours, then finished them off on the grill.

Bourbon and ribs on a Saturday afternoon.