North London Food & Culture

How to make a cocktail at home: whisky sour and mint julep

Mixologist Nes Vanriel-Edwards, from Tufnell Park's Aces & Eights bar, on creating two superior whisky libations in simple steps

Nes mixes a mint julep. Photo: Stephen Emms / London Belongs To Me
Nes mixes a mint julep. Photo: Stephen Emms / London Belongs To Me

Nes Vanriel-Edwards is assistant manager at Tufnell Park drinking institution Aces & Eights, which recently celebrated its fourth birthday on Fortess Road. She cut her cocktail-making teeth at bars across London including Dalston Superstore, as well as a previous stint at Aces a couple of years back. Her favourite spirit? Why, whisky, so we asked her to show us how to make two stalwart (but easy to prepare) libations.

Create a creamy whisky sour

“The base for this drink is a double shot (50ml) of any whisky you like. Measure it straight into your shaker with one part (25ml) of gomme syrup and half a squeeze of lemon (25ml).

Not a lot of people have a bottle of gomme in the cupboard at home. But you can easily knock up a home-made version by mixing down some sugar and water or even just using sugar as it all breaks down in the mix.

Adding an egg white is the classic ingredient, but is optional. Some people freak out about using it but I’d say it’s well worth trying. The egg albumen changes the texture of the drink completely and makes it gorgeous. Failing that, you can use pineapple juice, which adds a similar thickening quality to the drink.


LOCAL ADVERTISING


Whiskey Sour: classic texture. Photo: Stephen Emms / London Belongs To Me
Whiskey Sour: classic texture. Photo: SE/LBTM

Fill a tumbler all the way to the top with ice and go for a dry shake – without ice – to get the all proteins going. Then tip your shaker contents into a fresh Boston glass, this time with ice, to chill.

I always add two maraschino cherries to garnish. Cherries are the old school classic, but a twist of lemon or lime, or a mix of both, works really well too.

Tip: traditionally this drink uses a sweeter bourbon whisky, but if you don’t have any, it’s still possible to use extra gomme syrup, adjusting the amounts to suit the sweetness levels of your own palate.

….and a few tips for killer mint julep

The finished Mint Julep. Photo: Stephen Emms / London Belongs To Me
The finished Mint Julep. Photo: SE/LBTM
“Grab a good handful of mint and break it down, removing all stalks. Fill a lowball glass (or short tumbler) three quarters with crushed ice piled on top of the leaves. Add two or three bashes of angostura bitters and a single serving (25ml) of gomme syrup and bash the hell out of it.

Add more crushed ice to the glass, up to about halfway, keep mixing it up, then more ice, and next the important thing – the whisky. You can use any variety you like, but bourbon goes particularly well due to that sweeter flavour.

Finish the drink off by piling crushed ice as high as it will go and garnish with a sprig of mint on the stalk.

Tip: Wrapping ice cubes in a tea towel and bashing them with a rolling pin should suffice for crushed ice – but you can get bags of it at any corner shop these days too. Look out for them.

Enjoyed trying that? Find out how to make a mojito and espresso martini courtesy of Somers Town speakeasy Cosy Kettle here, or a Bloody Mary and Tom Collins at Bermondsey bar The Hide here

For loads more classic cocktail recipes visit TheBar.com

Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment

About Kentishtowner

The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section.