sober tuesday - mint julep
It's been a bit of a hectic week, so today will just be a quick post. But I wanted to keep up the Sober Tuesday tradition since there are only two more left in Lent! Granted I can keep them up after that too, but Lent was the premise, so Lenten mocktails you shall get.
I've always loved mint. When I was little, I saw my mom doing a lot of gardening so I of course wanted my own garden too. Like you do. So she told me I could have a small bed of my own, but I would be in charge of growing some herbs. My first pick? Mint, of course. Which was a lot more strategic than childhood me knew because those plants propagate like rabbits. I felt quite proficient in my newly claimed hobby. And snacked on a lot of fresh mint while playing in the yard too, if we're honest.
One of my favorite things, though, was to take the sun tea we were always brewing during the summer and poke a bunch of mint leaves into my glass. That was the taste of summer. Fresh, cold sun tea and a handful of my own hand-grown mint leaves. Childhood in a glass, right there.
So when thinking up what to do for this week's Sober Tuesday, I was also having a big case of the Summer Yearns. We had one warm day this weekend and my brain immediately kicked into summer mode. Granted it's 28 today but hey, it was worth a shot. So with summer in mind, mint and tea were the obvious front runners. So with that, here's my booze-free mint julep. I used a maple bourbon syrup from Trader Joe's to echo the staple of a classic mint julep, but regular maple syrup would also be just fine. I can't recommend that maple bourbon syrup enough, though.
And with that, here's to the first day of Spring!
mint julep mocktail
yield: 1-2 drinks, depending on glass size
INGREDIENTS
4½ oz strong peppermint tea, chilled ¼ oz lemon juice 4 leaves of fresh mint ¼ oz bourbon maple syrup sparkling water
INSTRUCTIONS
In a mixing glass, middle the fresh mint leaves with the lemon juice.
Add the peppermint tea and bourbon maple syrup and stir with ice to combine.
Fill a serving glass half full with the tea mixture and top with sparkling water. You can also serve this over crushed ice if so desired.
Garnish with a mint sprig and lemon peel. Serve!
