Presenting the Beer Julep

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Presenting the Beer Julep

Written by Christopher Hapka

Friday, 01 May 2009 00:00

The topic of this month's installment of The Session is the beer cocktail. This seemed like the perfect excuse to combine two parts of this blog's mission statement by mixing home brewed beer with something from my edible garden.

The timing was a bit of a problem, however. In April, my garden was producing very little, except for some fall-planted onions and garlic, some very small radishes, and a little bit of spearmint.

Then I realized that the deadline for submission was a day before the first Saturday in May, the traditional day for the running of the Kentucky Derby.

So my mission was clear: I would use my homegrown mint to develop a beer version of the Derby's signature cocktail. I set out to create the Beer Julep.

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The traditional mint julep is simple: muddle mint and sugar in a chilled metal glass, add crushed ice and top with Kentucky bourbon. My experiment began the same way, by muddling a bit of spearmint from my garden with sugar.

For beer, I chose Madtown Nut Brown, a Wisconsin brew. I wanted something with chocolate notes to go with the mint, and the only homebrew I had on hand that fit the bill was my own Kentucky Common. This would have been thematically appropriate, but I didn't want the sourness, and, frankly, I didn't want to waste one of my last bottles of the Kentucky Common in case the experiment was a failure.

First, I tried the simple route: mixing a bit of muddled mint directly with the roasty brown ale. The result didn't look very appetizing, and the taste didn't do anything to make up for it. Instead of complementing the beer's chocolate character, the mint just masked it, and the result was pretty much undrinkable. My special guest taster, from horse racing blog Superfecta, compared it to toothpaste. Unfavorably.

I tried adding sugar and beer to cut the mint, but it didn't help; it just made it a sweeter mess. In deperation, I tried a spoonful of Dutch process cocoa powder, hoping it would marry the flavors. It didn't. Superfecta refused even to taste that one. I took a picture, but trust me, you don't need to see it.

Finally, I did what I probably should have done in the first place. I went back to my first recipe, with plenty of sugar and a bit less mint, and on top of it I added a dash of Kentucky bourbon whiskey. The final product was much improved. The whiskey matched well with the sweet mint, and the beer provided an interesting malty background. By this time Superfecta was having none of it, but I finished the glass--something that was not an option with the first few attempts.