Month: July 2018

Mint Julep Idiosyncrasy

It’s hot, and you don’t like to drink the chilled rice-based swill that passes for “beer”.  What do?  Perhaps the mint julep…is right for you.

Mint julep recipes are highly variable, but have several things in common: mint, sugar, bourbon, and ice.  The IBA recipe:

6 cL Bourbon whiskey

4 mint leaves

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

2 teaspoons water

In a highball glass gently muddle the mint, sugar and water. Fill the glass with cracked ice, add Bourbon and stir well until the glass is well frosted. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Aside from the fact that this is a triple-strong drink — which may or may not be what you want — it’s light on the mint.  I’m not sold on powdered sugar either.  By the way, in this and other julep recipes it’s assumed that the highball glass is metal, hence the “until frosted” direction.  Don’t wait for glass glasses to frost.  Silver straw optional.

“Crusade” by Rick Atkinson

I originally heard Rick Atkinson’s “Crusade” mentioned in a discussion about French & British forces underperforming during Desert Storm .  I put it on my to-read list, found a copy in a used bookstore, and read it.  Atkinson doesn’t actually have that much to say about the British or the French.  “Crusade” is a solid chronicle of the war, and even though it’s not in the same league as Atkinson’s best work, he did produce it rather quickly (published 1993), especially given the detail of both the sources and the writing.  The title derives from Atkinson’s thesis — that President George H.W. Bush drummed up support for the war by turning it into something that it wasn’t, a great Crusade — but he thankfully doesn’t spend much time on this.

crusade

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