Gin Julep

Recommended The Bar-Tender's Guide by Jerry Thomas (1862, p.49) — Jerry Thomas 1862

1. Prepare as for Thomas's mint julep, substituting gin for brandy.
2. Use shaved ice and mint bouquet service, but omit the fancy fixings.

Garnish: Mint bouquet

Ice: Fine shaved ice

Nose

Mint and gin botanicals make the nose brisker than the brandy-based juleps.

Palate

The palate is cooler, lighter, and more aromatic, with the sweetened mint carrying the gin's herbs cleanly.

Finish

It finishes fresh, minty, and more herbal than the brandy version.

Summary

A more botanical julep variant that shows how flexible the template already was in Thomas.

Thomas treats gin julep as a straightforward adaptation of the mint julep. The entry reinforces that the nineteenth-century julep category was defined more by format and service than by a single fixed spirit.

As with the other juleps, the balance lies in mint handling and shaved ice texture rather than in complex mixing steps.

Among Thomas's short julep variants, the gin version likely gives the clearest contrast in profile while keeping the same structure.

Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks by William Terrington (1869, p.193) — Terrington 1869

1. Put the mint, gin, and Maraschino into a glass.
2. Fill with pounded ice and serve with straws.

Garnish: Mint sprigs.

Ice: Pounded ice

This helps show how fully the julep idea had expanded beyond brandy and whisky in Victorian British compilation books.

The build is notably compact and depends on ice volume rather than a long ingredient list.

The Gentleman's Table Guide by E. Ricket and C. Thomas (1871, p.38)

1. Prepare as for No. 63, substituting gin for brandy.
2. Serve with the mint bouquet and fruit garnish.

Garnish: Mint bouquet, berries, and orange slices

Ice: Rasped or shaved ice

The American Bar-Tender by E. A. Simmons (1874, p.9)

1. Prepare as for the Whiskey Julep using gin.
2. Serve with the mint bouquet and fruit ornaments.

Garnish: Mint bouquet and seasonal fruit

Ice: Fine shaved ice

American and Other Drinks by Leo Engel (1878, p.35)

1. Make with the same ingredients as Mint Julep, omitting the fancy fixings and substituting gin for brandy.

Garnish: Mint bouquet

Ice: Fine chipped ice

The Police Gazette Bartenders Guide by Richard K. Fox (1888, p.31) — 1888 Holland Gin

1. Fill a large bar glass with fine ice and prepare the sugar, water, and mint as in Mint Julep to extract the essence.
2. Add the Holland gin, stir well, dress with fruits in season, and serve.

Garnish: Seasonal fruit and mint

Ice: Fine ice

Summary

A Holland-gin julep showing the family moving cleanly beyond the brandy branch.

This matters because it gives a clear late-century gin julep checkpoint inside a source already rich in Holland gin service.

The source explicitly treats the mint extraction as shared julep grammar rather than restating it fully.

Compared with Mint Julep, this keeps the same display logic but shifts the spirit base toward the Dutch-gin side of the bar.

Methode pour composer soi-meme Les boissons americaines by Emile Lefeuvre (1889, p.27) — Emile Lefeuvre 1889

1. Prepare as the Mint Julep, using gin and omitting the decoration.

Garnish: Mint

Ice: Crushed ice

Cocktail Boothby's American Bar-Tender by Wm. T. Boothby (1891, p.33)

1. Make the same as the brandy julep, substituting Holland gin for brandy.
2. Omit the Jamaica-rum dash and serve with decorated mint and fruit.

Garnish: Fruit and sugared mint sprigs

Ice: Shaved ice

The gin branch is useful because it shows Boothby's julep logic functioning beyond the modern whiskey-centric memory of the family.

The omitted rum dash is a meaningful service distinction, not a trivial detail.

The Mixicologist by C. F. Lawlor (1895, p.49) — C. F. Lawlor 1895

1. Make the gin julep with the same ingredients as the mint julep, omitting the fancy fixings.

Garnish: Mint

Ice: Fine ice

Nose

Mint and gin botanicals create a cool lifted aroma.

Palate

It is lighter and more herbal than the whiskey form, but still unmistakably part of the julep line.

Finish

The finish is minty, botanical, and cool.

Summary

A stripped gin branch of the late julep family.

Gin Julep is useful because it shows the julep family staying flexible across base spirits even as the prestige image of the whiskey julep remains culturally dominant.

Omitting the fancy fixings clarifies the core template: mint, sweetness, spirit, and ice.

Compared with the Big 4 Mint Julep, this is plainer and less theatrical. Compared with Gin Smash, it is more expansive and cooler-led.

Bartenders' Guide: How to Mix Drinks by Wehman Bros. (1912, p.37)

1. Mix the sugar and water, press fresh mint into them, add the Holland gin, fill the glass with fine shaved ice, arrange the mint bouquet and fruit garnish, dash with Jamaica rum, and serve with a straw.

Ice: Ice

The Up-to-Date Bartender's Guide by Harry Montague (1913, p.29)

1. Substitute Holland gin for brandy and proceed as for Brandy Julep.
2. Serve in a large goblet with fruit and mint sprigs.

Garnish: Fruit and mint sprigs

Ice: Fine ice

This entry is explicitly substitution-based in the source.

Home Brewed Wines and Beers and Bartenders' Guide by Johnson Smith & Company (1918) — 1918 Home Brewed, How to Mix Drinks opening section

1. Press mint with sugar and water as in a mint julep, fill with shaved ice, add gin, stir well, dress with fruit in season, and serve.

Garnish: Fruit in season

Ice: Shaved ice

Cocktails by Pedro Chicote (1928, p.285) — Gin

1. Build in a whiskey glass, stir with a spoon, add fruit and lemon, and serve with straws.

Garnish: Seasonal fruit and lemon slice

Ice: Ice pieces

This matters because it preserves a chartreuse-accented gin julep branch in Chicote's late-1920s service chapter.

Peychaud's New Orleans Cocktails by John Held Jr. (1935, p.24)

1. Combine mint, sugar, and water, fill the glass with fine chopped ice, stir in the lemon juice and gin, and stir until the glass is frosted.

Ice: Ice