Brandy Smash
A herbal and sweet brandy cocktail ∙ Muddle; Shake ∙ 4 min ∙ 24.5% ABV ∙
The Brandy Smash is a shaken Cognac drink with muddled mint and sugar syrup, served over ice in an old-fashioned glass.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- In the base of the shaker, muddle: Fresh mint leaves 7 pcs
- Add the remaining ingredients: Cognac 60 mlSugar syrup 10 ml
- Shake with ice
- Fine strain into the ice-filled glass (preferably over a chunk of block ice)
- Garnish with a mint sprig
Tips
- Press the mint gently in the base of the shaker; bash it and the drink turns bitter, green and grassy.
History
The Brandy Smash belongs to the smash family, a group of short, muddled mint-and-spirit drinks that historians trace to the middle of the 19th century, with various accounts placing its emergence anywhere from the 1830s to the 1850s. The category is closely related to the mint julep, essentially treated as a smaller-format julep with sugar and mint.
One of the earliest documented references to the style appears in bartender Jerry Thomas's 1862 guide, How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant's Companion, which describes the smash as "simply a julep on a small plan" and gives a Brandy Smash recipe. Bartender Harry Johnson's 1882 manual also included a dedicated Fancy Brandy Smash recipe alongside whiskey and rum versions.
Of the various spirit bases used, the Brandy Smash is described as having been the most popular variant during the drink's mid-19th-century heyday. The smash later appeared right after the julep entries of The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, before falling out of general fashion and being revived by later 20th-century bartenders.
