prescription julep

1/2 oz Sugar + Water (1/2 oz Simple Syrup)
1 1/2 oz Cognac (Camus VS)
1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (Michter's)
Mint Leaves (8 leaf)

Infuse mint in the the sugar, spirits, and water (muddle mint in the syrup and then add the rest of the ingredients). Add powdered (crushed) ice.

When I was thinking about the American House Julep, I was certain that I had had a Prescription Julep that was similar save for a flip of the brandy to whiskey ratio. However, I could not find it on the blog or in my notebooks from the Tales of the Cocktail seminars I attended years ago; therefore, I decided to make the drink whether for the first time or again. David Wondrich in Imbibe! gleaned the recipe from Harper's Monthly back in 1857. Before whiskey off in America, most Juleps were made with either European brandy or rum made locally or in the Caribbean, and Wondrich cites the mid 19th century as when whiskey began creeping into the written recipes which was aided in the 1870s by phylloxera beginning to take out brandy production in Europe.
The Prescription Julep recipe was written like a doctor's note, and the concept reminded me of Prohibition when liquor could be dispensed with a medical prescription. Once in the glass, the Julep donated a mint aroma that led into a rich note from the sugar and aged spirits on the sip. Next, the swallow shared the smoothness of the Cognac that met the spice of the rye and mint.