ClassicsSpring

Mint Julep

The Mint Julep is bourbon, mint and a little sugar, stirred over crushed ice until the metal cup frosts. It is cold, aromatic and strong, and the mint sprig by the straw means you smell it with every sip. Derby weekend's drink.

  • GlassJulep cup
  • MethodStirred
  • Ingredients4
Mint Julep

Ingredients

Making a batch?
Servings
Mint sprig placed beside the straw so you smell it on every sipGarnish
Total volume—

Directions

  1. Muddle the mint leaves and simple syrup in a julep cup or rocks glass. Be brief and gentle, since hard muddling turns mint bitter.
  2. Add crushed ice and the bourbon, stirring until the outside of the cup frosts.
  3. Top with more crushed ice.

ToolsJiggerBar spoonMuddlerJulep cup

Don't have these? Build a drink from your shelf →

History

The word julep comes from the Persian gulab, a rose-water drink. By the late 1700s, juleps were a morning tonic in Virginia, and the bourbon-and-mint version became a Southern institution. The Kentucky Derby adopted it as the official drink in 1938.

Making a batch? Scale it for a crowd, add dilution water, and see how many bottles to buy.
Quick sizes
How are you making it? ⓘ Batching includes dilution water. Pre-batched cocktails need added water to replace the melt from stirring or shaking. We use Jeffrey Morgenthaler's standard: 18% for spirit-forward drinks, 25% for shaken.

What you'll need to buy

Based on 750ml bottles (25.4 oz), rounded up.

Bottle math, generally

750ml bottle25.4 oz
2 oz pours per bottle12 cocktails
1.5 oz pours per bottle16 cocktails
1 oz =29.6 ml
This recipe per 750ml of spirit—

Don't have these bottles? Work with what you've got.

Tell the Cocktail Creator what's on your shelf and what mood you're in — it'll show you every drink you can make tonight.

Open the Cocktail Creator →