high plains julep

1 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse)
1/2 oz Amaro Braulio
1/2 oz Amaretto (Luxardo)
6-8 leaf Mint

Muddle mint with the liqueurs in a Julep cup, add the rest of the ingredients, top with ice, and garnish with a mint bouquet. Two Mondays ago, I got home late from a series of industry events and felt like enjoying a Julep to round out the evening. Therefore, I reached for my copy of The Madrusan Cocktail Companion and became intrigued by the High Plains Julep by Travis Hernandez at Half Step in Austin circa 2017. There was something about amaretto juxtaposed with Braulio that I needed to experience to understand, and I also have a lot of Luxardo Amaretto since shortly after buying a bottle, I was tasked with developing a recipe with Luxardo and Hotaling products and was sent another bottle for R&D. Checking back, "shortly" was two years ago (replacing my 15+ year old bottle of Disaronno that I finished a month before), but that does sum up my general use of that liqueur. There are a few instances on the blog of bitter liquids pairing with amaretto with the most extreme being a hefty slug of Angostura Bitters in the Sock Drawer Sexuality, but most are with softer amaro such as two that I created – the Bar Boss with Cynar and the Am-Am Sour with Averna. While the closest thing to amaretto meeting mint was in the garnish to the Caribbean Punch, Braulio has been paired before with mint including two other Juleps – the Ducati and the Thieves in the Night. So I set to work (and got one step closer to not dying with two bottles of amaretto bottles in the house), and the High Plains Julep offered up mint aromas over almond and stone fruit pit ones. Next, caramel on the sip expanded into rye, almond, minty, bitter herbal, and pine flavors on the swallow.