Skip to content
Sip Curator
Log in Sign up
All cocktails Bourbon Smash

Log in to see whether your bar can pour this

Bourbon Smash

Aperitivo/aperitif · Elevenses/afternoon · Sours (citrus)

4.2 42 ratings

Favorite

Ingredients

10 fresh Mint leaves
2 oz Bourbon whiskey
3/4 oz Lemon juice
1/2 oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1)
3 drop Saline solution 4:1

How to make

Serve in a old-fashioned glass

Prepare

  1. 1 Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
  2. 2 Prepare garnish of mint sprigs bouquet.

Method

  1. 3 Gently MUDDLE mint in base of shaker (just to bruise).
  2. 4 Add other ingredients and SHAKE with ice.
  3. 5 FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.

Garnish

  1. 6 Garnish with mint sprigs bouquet.

Made it?

How did it pour?

Rate this drink

With an account you can score a drink once you have poured it and keep a note on how you made it. Your score and your note are yours alone; share your ingredient list if you want to, and other members see how you pour it.

Flavour profile

History

The offspring of a Mint Julep and Whiskey Sour, mint and bourbon are a brilliant combination in this simple sour.

Dale DeGroff's 2008 book, The Essential Cocktail, is largely responsible for the Bourbon Smash's current fame. DeGroff presented his own version of a Whiskey Cobbler, which involves shaking muddled orange segments with whiskey and sugar. His "Bourbon Smash" recipe is quite similar to the one described, but it specifies muddling two lemon wedges instead of using lemon juice. The earliest known "Whiskey Smash" appeared in Jerry Thomas' Bar-tenders Guide, published in 1887 after his death on December 15th, 1885. This recipe is situated near comparable "Brandy Smash" and "Gin Smash" recipes. These "Smash" recipes, unlike later iterations, do not call for citrus juice and are essentially Juleps. In fact, the three "Smash" recipes immediately follow six "Julep" recipes within the book. Gin Smash. (Use small bar-glass.) Take 1 tea-spoonful of fine white sugar. 2 tea-spoonfuls of water. 1 wine-glass of gin. 3 or 4 sprigs of tender mint. Put the mint in the glass, then the sugar and water. Mash the mint to extract the flavor, add the gin, and fill up the glass with shaved ice. Stir up well, and ornament with two or three fresh sprigs of mint. Whiskey Smash. (Use small bar-glass.) Take 1 tea-spoonful of fine white sugar. 2 tea-spoonfuls of water. 3 or 4 sprigs of young mint. 1 wine-glass of whiskey. Proceed, exactly, as directed in the last recipe.

Created by Dale DeGroff