The Jerry Thomas Project: Whiskey Smash, Brandy Smash, and the Gin Smash

For those of you who haven’t read my entire blog, I am currently in the process of recreating all of Jerry Thomas’s cocktails from his 1887 book, Jerry Thomas’s Bartenders Guide Receipts for Mixing All Kinds of Punch, Egg Nog, etc. Thomas is the grandfather of American Mixology and lived pre-prohibition, pre ice machine, pre car but was able to travel the world and make a career out of mixing drinks.

GOMME SYRUP

Finally, some progress. First, the gomme syrup is done.
(Gomme syrup is a syrup very similar to simple syrup that’s used as a sweetener. But instead of just using sugar and water to make the syrup, you add a little gum arabic. Gum arabic is a very complicated fusion of long and short chain sugars and is used on the back of postage stamps or on envelopes to make them seal. Anyhow, you can make a very decadent simple syrup by reducing the amount of water to sugar as gum arabic is a stabilizer and it will help prevent the mixture from crystalizing.)
I took 2 ounces of gum arabic and let it sit in 2 ounces of water overnight. The next day is was rather putrid looking with black floaties in a yellowish viscous sap. It distinctly reminded me of a time I had a bottle of Knob Creek that fruit flies infiltrated and turned it into a devilish solution of grey bourbon with thousands of dark mites. So I wasn’t real apt to turn this gum arabic solution into something I planned on drinking.
But I’m not afraid of something that looks like thousands of drowned fruit fly babies, so I added three cups of sugar and one cup of water and brought it to a boil. It foamed up intensely with thick yellow bubbles. I ran it through a chinois (which is a very very fine mesh colander) but there were still odd little bits floating in it so I ran it through some cheesecloth. The texture was very silky and the flavor was slightly chalky. The flavor reminded me of necco candy buttons (the little tiny rainbow dots of sugar that come on rolls of paper). I haven’t mixed it with anything yet, so I will be interested to see if I like it or not. On first impression, I wasn’t a fan of the chalky flavor but I am fascinated by the texture.

BRANDY SMASH, WHISKEY SMASH, AND GIN SMASH
So I made three cocktails: the brandy smash, the whiskey smash, and the gin smash. The whiskey smash in particular has made a bit of a resurgence and my beloved work mate Jonathan Hardy has taken to making a whiskey smash sazarac that he prides himself on (and a bit unfortunately has created a bit of a following for as the drink takes about 15 minutes to make). Nonetheless, he allows the mint to steep in bourbon (usually Jefferson’s) for 10 minutes. He then smashes about two handfuls of ice between linen with a hammer and dries off the excess water. He then rinses the glass with absinthe, adds the bourbon, adds the “dehydrated” ice, a splash of angostura bitters, and a splash of peychaud’s bitters. It’s rather tasty, just very time consuming.

Unlike Hardy’s version, Thomas doesn’t say how long to leave the mint in the spirit. He also doesn’t use any bitters, but rather a teaspoon of white sugar. I had Hardy smash ice for me and “dehydrate” it. Although the moment the ice hits room-temperature booze, it immediately begins to melt so I don’t know if it makes a difference or not. Nonetheless, it does look rather sleek and frosty before you put it in the glass. I found that the sugar didn’t really dissolve, it just sat at the bottom of the glass. The brandy was our favorite, it was better balanced and the mint really flattered the drink. Our least favorite was the gin, which surprised me as it seems that mint and sugar would make gin taste amazing. But it really didn’t make the biggest difference. I used Ransom gin, which is a pre-prohibition style of gin that uses malted barley as the base wort, is distilled in alembic pot stills, and then finished in Pinot Noir barrels (which makes it slightly pink). It is divinely delicious and every time you taste it, something new will pop out at you: mint, lavender, coriander, lemon, hops, cardamom, and juniper to name a few. But I think because it has so many layers, the mint dousing didn’t drastically modify its character.

Nonetheless, I recommend to anyone to put some mint leaves and let them soak for 10 to 15 minutes in 2 ounces of any type of spirit. You will be surprised by how much mint flavor imparts in such a short amount of time.

Brandy Smash

1 teaspoon of white sugar
2 tablespoons of water
3 – 4 sprigs of mint
2 ounces of brandy

Let the mint sit in the brandy for 10 minutes with the sugar and water. Add shaved ice and enjoy.

Tagged as: bartender blog, Bend oregon cocktails, gomme syrup, gum syrup, Jerry Thomas Bar-Tenders Guide How to Mix Drinks, Jerry Thomas Project, mint cocktail, mixologist blog, mixology blog, pre-prohibition cocktails, Ransom Gin, Ransom Old Tom Gin