D had an idea for our next cocktail. One that surprised me, as D is not a fan of the primary ingredient of the drink: mint. She said she wanted to try these Mint Juleps she had seen in a recent issue of Bon Appetit. I protested; it didn’t make a lot of sense for me to make a drink she wasn’t going to want. She informed me that these mint juleps also had peach in them and so would taste better. Also, I was to make hers without any mint…
I tried to tell her then that it wasn’t a mint julep at that point. I don’t even think it was a julep of any kind. It was just peach and bourbon. She was insistent and since I like Mint Juleps I went ahead with the drink.
Peach Julep (serves 2)
- 1/4 cup Ginger syrup
- 1 ripe peach, peeled, sliced
- 4 sprigs mint plus more for garnish
- 4 oz bourbon
- 2 oz lemon juice
- 6 oz ginger beer
For each cocktail muddle 1/2 of the peach slices and 2 of the mint sprigs in a julep cup or double old fashioned glass (I just used my old cocktail glasses;) add 2 oz of bourbon, 1 oz of lemon juice, and 1/2 oz of ginger syrup. Fill glasses with crushed ice and add 2-3 oz of ginger beer. Garnish with mint sprig
(Recipe found in the August 2013 Bon Appetit)
These were really great! The only real problem was that I didn’t use enough ice. I like to think of Juleps as boozy snow cones and I just didn’t crush enough ice during the prep… The muddled peach and mint was tasted great and added a lot of flavor to the drink. D enjoyed hers as well but thought it was a little strong. This too could have been prevented with more ice.
Next week I make Sea Breezes.
