Somewhere between a Mint Julep and a Whiskey Sour, the Whiskey Smash sets bourbon's oak and caramel sweetness underneath the snap of muddled lemon and a cool perfume of fresh mint. Shaken hard and strained over crushed ice, it drinks bright, cold and easy — summer in a rocks glass.
Garnish: Mint Sprig
Shaken · Rocks · Crushed
muddle
Muddle the fresh lemon and mint leaves with the simple syrup in a shaker to express the lemon juice and mint oils.
add
Add the bourbon and fill the shaker with ice.
shake
Shake vigorously until well chilled.
strain
Strain into a rocks glass packed with crushed ice.
garnish
Garnish with a fresh mint sprig (and a lemon wedge or wheel).
The smash belongs to the julep family, a 19th-century pattern of spirit, sugar and herb served over ice that no single person can claim. Jerry Thomas set the form down rather than invented it in his 1862 How to Mix Drinks, and an old-style whiskey smash counts among its early examples. The lemon-forward version poured today is widely credited to Dale DeGroff, who reworked it at New York's Rainbow Room by borrowing the Cobbler's habit of shaking with fresh citrus. That adaptation helped carry the drink into its modern revival.