Tips on how to Make a Whiskey Smash Cocktail

The Whiskey Smash, a vibrant traditional cocktail consisting of bourbon, sugar, lemon and mint, needs to be a part of any residence bar’s menu, particularly within the warm-weather months.

The Whiskey Smash is a really previous cocktail. The precise story behind the creation of the Smash as a method of cocktail is nebulous, however in The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, historian David Wondrich traces the cocktail class’s origins to the 1840s. Named after the act of muddling chunks of lemon, the Smash is carefully associated to the traditional Julep, as evidenced by means of recent mint. Like many well-liked cocktails of this period, it was made with quite a lot of base spirits, with the most well-liked being Cognac, earlier than being revived as a whiskey-based cocktail.

After the cocktail’s rise to prominence, its recognition peaked within the 1850s after which started to wane throughout the next decade. Properly earlier than Prohibition started, the Smash had almost completely fallen out of favor amongst bar patrons. In line with Wondrich, the Whiskey Smash’s fashionable resurgence could be attributed to Dale DeGroff’s up to date Whiskey Peach Smash.

In the present day, the Whiskey Smash is loved as a easy, cool, recent drink that gives barely extra complexity than a Mint Julep. The drink additionally supplies a primary blueprint for muddling up any recent fruit that may be mendacity round.

Why the Whiskey Smash works

Very similar to the bitter, the Whiskey Smash depends on the tried and true system of spirit, citrus, and sugar. In a cocktail, these flavors completely complement one another, and in the appropriate measurements, create a balanced drink. The place the Whiskey Smash deviates from the bitter’s system is with the addition of muddled citrus and mint.

The distinction between a superb Whiskey Smash and an excellent one could be narrowed down to 1 factor: the standard of the components. For the reason that drink derives a lot of its taste instantly from entire components, the freshness and ripeness of the lemon and mint make an outsized influence on the drink. Keep away from utilizing limp, scentless mint in any respect prices.

This straightforward and refreshing recipe can also be tailored for experimentation. Strive muddling blackberries or some other recent fruit with the lemon in step one. Any recent, ripe fruit could be added to the Whiskey Smash to provide it a pop of shade and a few added complexity.