Why it works: Mint and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,592 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Westmoreland Club Mint Julep
Ingredients
Directions
Crush part of the mint with the crushed ice and sugar in a glass.
Add the whiskey and stir gently.
Place the remaining mint on top with more crushed ice.
Enjoy your drink and appreciate life.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Mint + sugartop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh mint
- Crushing releases aromatic oils that give the julep its fragrance.
- Whiskey
- Provides the spirit base and warming alcohol flavour of the drink.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and helps draw flavour out of the crushed mint.
- Crushed ice
- Chills and slowly dilutes the whiskey, softening its intensity as it is sipped.
The step that matters
Crush part of the mint with the crushed ice and sugar. Bruising mint gently releases its oils without shredding the leaves, which would make the drink taste grassy and bitter. Crushing too hard or too long is the usual mistake.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More mint julep recipes
You might also like
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.