Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks, 1862.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | BOURBON | 40 % |
| 8 leaves | MINT | |
| 1 oz · 30 ml | LEMON | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 3.5 oz mixed with ice, 0.8 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +0.7 oz of water |
| Served | 3.5 + 0.7 = 4.2 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.8 ÷ 4.2 = 19.0 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.8 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 131 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM BOURBON · from oak barrel aging
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Manhattan · Whiskey Sour · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Espresso Martini · Mai Tai
FROM MINT · the cooling sensation
A cyclic alcohol that hijacks TRPM8, the same cold-sensing receptor that fires when the skin actually hits a cool surface. The "cooling" sensation is neurological, not thermal; the drink isn't cold, the nerves just think it is. Peppermint carries the most; a mojito gets a fraction of the real thing from muddled mint leaves. Same chemistry powers menthol cigarettes, cough drops, and the post-shave aftershock of anything labeled "icy."
ALSO IN Mojito · Mint Julep · Stinger · Grasshopper · Old Cuban · Cynar Julep · Eastside · Maid in Cuba
FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
Bourbon, muddled mint, lemon and sugar. It is the Julep reconfigured for lemon: carvone from mint, citral from lemon and vanillin from bourbon. Smashing whole lemon wedges releases both the juice and the oil from the peel.
Jerry Thomas's 1862 Bartender's Guide includes the Smash as a category ('a julep on a small plan') and the Whiskey Smash specifically as the whiskey variant, with no lemon. The drink predates the proper Old Fashioned and remains the simplest smash format. Dale DeGroff at the Rainbow Room in the 1990s repopularized the Whiskey Smash with muddled lemon, and Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey made it a standard pour through the 2000s, the canonical New York craft-bar bourbon drink.
