Julep: Southern Cocktails Refashioned [A Recipe Book]

by Alba Huerta, Marah Stets

Overview

A tribute to the spirits and drinking traditions of the South through a leading barwoman's glass, with 80 recipes and photos.

IACP AWARD WINNER

Craft cocktail maven Alba Huerta succinctly tells the story of drinking in the South through themes such as "Trading with the Enemy," "the Rural South," "the Drinking Society," "the Saltwater South," and others that anchor the menu at her destination bar, Julep. With historical overviews, 15 bar snack recipes, and 65 bespoke cocktail recipes, ranging from the iconic Mint Julep (and variations such as Rye Julep and Sparkling Julep) to modern inventions like the Snakebit Sprout, Liquid Currency, and Hot July, Huerta recounts the tales and traditions that define drinking culture in the American South today. Approximately 80 evocative cocktail and location photographs convey the romance and style that distinguish Julep and serve to inspire beverage enthusiasts to relive Southern history via the bar cart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399579417
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	03/13/2018
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	991,085
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

ALBA HUERTA is the owner of Julep and co-owner of The Pastry War, both nationally recognized craft cocktail bars in Houston. Huerta was named bartender of the year by Imbibe! in 2013 and one of the top ten mixologists by Food & Wine and best bartender in Texas by Texas Monthly in 2015. Bon Appetit selected Julep as one of the best new U.S. bars in 2015. Huerta serves on the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance, is a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among other publications.

Read an Excerpt

Naturally, I must begin with the Southern cocktail that inspires me so much I named my bar after it. The first julep was not the mint-sugar-bourbon concoction often presented today as the definitive julep. In fact, the earliest juleps, which were mixed in the late 1700s, could include pretty much any spirit. And so there were gin juleps, rum juleps, even madeira juleps. By the mid-1800s, many sources, including Jerry Thomas’s seminal 1862 book, The Bar-Tender’s Guide, asserted that the true Southern julep was mint, sugar, cognac, and peach brandy. What interests me more than the spirits the original julep was made with is the purpose: to mask and mellow bitter remedies, making them easier to ingest. This is implied in the etymology of the word julep. It comes from the Persian golab, or “rose water,”an aromatic distillation of rose petals and water used as a medicine, cosmetic, and flavoring in food and drink. The julep was not incidental to medical care but was in fact a trusted treatment—one of many ways the history of alcohol intersects with the history of medicine. By the nineteenth century, the julep began to appear in books as a proper social drink.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Julep"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Alba Huerta.
Excerpted by permission of Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"Alba Huerta's ode to bourbon, mint, and crushed ice (my three favorite things) is Southern hospitality at its finest."
—Andrew Knowlton, Bon Appetit 

"Heavy on the Southern storytelling and even heavier on the bourbon, Huerta's book is a history of drinking in the states where the sun always shines."
—ESQUIRE 


“It’s an ideal way to add Southern hospitality to a home bar.”
—EATER

From the Publisher