Bourbon Smash

The smash: a julep that travels

The smash is an old American family of drinks — spirit, mint, sugar and crushed ice — and the bourbon version is its most useful member. Where a julep is built slowly in one silver cup, a smash is shaken and strained, which makes it colder, brighter and easier to make for a group.

Handling the mint

Ten leaves is the right amount, and how you treat them decides the drink. Press them once or twice with a muddler and a splash of the syrup, just until you can smell mint in the air; grinding them releases chlorophyll and the cocktail tastes of lawn clippings. Keep the stems out, and slap the garnish sprig against your palm before it goes on top, because that is what releases the oils you smell.

The liquid part

Two ounces of bourbon gives vanilla and corn sweetness. A high-rye bourbon adds pepper that cuts the mint; a wheated one is rounder. Three-quarters of an ounce of fresh lemon is more than a julep would use, and it is what makes a smash a sour rather than a sweet drink. Half an ounce of simple syrup holds the whole thing together.

Shake, then strain over crushed ice

Combine the bourbon, lemon and syrup in a tin with the pressed mint, fill two-thirds with ice and shake for twelve seconds. Strain into a rocks glass or a julep cup packed with crushed ice, then cap it with more crushed ice and a mint sprig. Crushed ice is not decoration: it chills the drink in seconds and dilutes it slowly as you sip.

Strength

Sits near 20% ABV once the ice has done its work, at about 190 calories.

Typical errors

• Over-muddling the mint, which turns the drink green and bitter.
• Using cubed ice in the glass, which makes a short, strong drink with no length.
• Skipping the lemon, which leaves a sweet whiskey with nothing to do with a smash.

Variations

A Peach Bourbon Smash adds two slices of ripe peach to the tin. A Gin Smash uses the same skeleton with a London dry gin and a strip of grapefruit peel.

What whiskey should I use?

Any bourbon you would drink neat. Cask-strength whiskey works if you increase the syrup slightly, because the extra alcohol needs balancing.

Can I make it without a shaker?

You can build it in the glass over crushed ice and stir, but the mint spreads less evenly and the drink is warmer.