Brandy Smash
Brandy, lemon, sugar and mint over cracked ice. The original smash of the 1850s — Jerry Thomas's 'julep on a small plan' — and still the best thing to do with brandy and a sprig of mint.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Put the lemon wedges and simple syrup in a shaker and muddle to release the juice and peel oil.
Add the mint leaves and press gently, then add the brandy.
Fill with ice and shake for 10 seconds.
Strain over cracked ice in a rocks glass and garnish with a slapped mint sprig.
A thoughtful finish
- Muddle the lemon hard, the mint gently.
- A VS cognac is right; the drink does not need an old one.
- Leave out the lemon for the 1862 original, which is a short brandy julep.
Common mistakes
- Shredding the mint.
- Lemon juice instead of wedges, which loses the peel oil.
- Serving it up; it wants ice.
A few good questions.
What does a Brandy Smash taste like?
Round brandy fruit with bright lemon and fresh mint over ice — a softer Whiskey Smash.
What is a smash?
A short julep: spirit, sugar, mint and ice, with citrus muddled in since the 1880s.
Cognac or brandy?
Either; a VS cognac or an American brandy like Germain-Robin or Copper & Kings.
How is it different from a julep?
Lemon, a shorter glass, and it is shaken rather than built.
Variations
- Whiskey Smash — Bourbon, lemon, sugar and mint.
- Gin Smash — Gin, lemon, sugar and mint.
- Mint Julep — Bourbon, mint and sugar over crushed ice.
- Brandy Old Fashioned — Wisconsin's muddled brandy drink.
Where it comes from
c. 1850s · United States
The smash was the mid-nineteenth-century short julep: spirit, sugar, mint and ice in a small bar glass, and Jerry Thomas’s 1862 guide gives it with brandy first, then gin and whiskey, because brandy was the fashionable spirit of the day. Later editions added a piece of lemon or orange, which is the modern smash. The brandy version went into eclipse with brandy’s own decline after the phylloxera blight of the 1870s and the rise of whiskey, and came back with the Whiskey Smash revival of the 1990s. With a decent cognac or a good American brandy it is a softer, rounder drink than the whiskey version, the mint and lemon lifting the fruit.
Sources
- Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks, 1862 (book)
- David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2015 (book)
- Difford's Guide, Brandy Smash, 2010 (reference)
Strength. About 1.33 US standard drinks at an estimated 19.4% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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