30 Days of Carol: Day 14 – One Mint Julep (Recipe)

Today is Erin’s birthday! So we’re giving her the day off of 30 Days of Carol and I’m stepping in to celebrate the birth of the nations’s co-number one Carolhead, with — what else! — a mint julep.  “One Mint Julep” is, of course, The Clovers song that plays as Carol and Therese make their way to Chicago to curl up in single beds at the Drake Hotel. On the way, they shimmy Carol out of her fur coat and giggle and point out the scenery and Therese eats an apple and stares out the window like the smittenest kitten in the midwest.

I am something of an expert on mint juleps, hailing from the deep south as I do, and so here is a recipe and some professional tips on how to make one.

Ingredients + Tools

2 1/2 oz Bourbon (I used this award-winning small batch bourbon from the LGBT-friendly Sugar House Distillery in Salt Lake City, even though — technically — bourbon’s supposed to be made in Kentucky.)

Leaves from 4-5 sprigs of mint, plus 2 sprigs for garnish

1 tbsp of raw cane sugar (or 1 oz of simple syrup)

Muddler

Cocktail spoon

Old fashioned glass (or pewter cup, if you’ve got it) (I do not)

Crushed ice

How To Make It

Put an old fashioned glass in the freezer to chill

After it’s nice and cold, place your mint leaves and sugar in the bottom of the glass with 1 tsp of water and gently muddle them until the sugar is dissolved, which will take about a minute. Don’t beat the devil out of those mint leaves! You’re just trying to open up the veins and get the essential oils out!

Pack your glass with crushed ice. It’s gotta be crushed. No other ice will do. One good way to crush ice if you don’t have a snow cone maker handy is to put a bunch of ice cubes into a dishtowel and smack it against your countertop.

Pour the bourbon on top of the ice.

Stir until the glass gets frosty again.

Garnish with two mint sprigs.

That’s that.

Happy Birthday, Erin!

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

24 Comments

  2. I just can’t wait

    I don’t want a lot for Christmas,
    There is just one thing I need,
    A certain counter girl wrapped in a bow,
    Underneath the Christmas tree

    I don’t need to hang my stocking,
    There in our hotel place,
    Only Therese can make me happy,
    Looking at her innocent face

    I just want you for my own,
    More than you could ever know,
    Make my wish come true,
    All I want for Christmas,
    Is you,
    You, baby boo

  7. I’m kinda swooning over the use of bourbon from a Utah distillery. because that used to be completely unheard of as they didn’t exist.

  11. I particularly love this post for three reasons:

    1.) I now know that there is such a thing as a whisky mojito that looks much nicer and I’m going to make one.
    2.) I want more tenuous-links-to-lesbian-culture cocktail recipes from Autostraddle, and I have high hopes that this is the start of something beautiful. Stand aside Antoni from Queer Eye.
    3.) I am now in a loop of great 1950s happy songs after re-listening to One Mint Julep on youtube- what a soundtrack to a grim Sunday evening in the snow.

    As an aside, 30 days of Carol is a solid conversation-starting topic in pubs up and down the UK, even in the preppiest pubs in London, as I can testify after Saturday night. Good work. Think of the potential relationships this can be starting.

  13. (swear to god I need a gif of a queer southern character saluting with a julep like a horse needs water)

  14. Happy Birthday Erin! Thanks for writing 30-days-of-carol!
    Will be waiting for another 16 days. Carry on.

  16. If any of y’all are in the south and looking for another LGBT-friendly bourbon option, try Fiddler Bourbon from American Spirit Works (the Atlanta distillery featured in episode 6 of Queer Eye). I work in the tasting room there along with 2 other queer women, we make some mean mint juleps in the summer. Maybe I should suggest a Carol-themed distillery event someday…

  17. Happy belated Erin !

    And to celebrate with a mint julep made by Heather’s own hands, wow, just WOW.

    I particularly loved how you inspired Rous Rose, you as baby Rindy is headspinning (although, tbh, that would be a tough call for Carol, choosing between you or Therese, HMMMM).

    Thank you for all you do, you keep us warm

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