Smash Cocktail Pack

The Smash is closely related to the Mint Julep cocktail and has also been called a Smasher or Smash-Up over time. In a Mint Julep, the mint is stirred together with alcohol and sugar, whereas in The Smash, one muddles, shakes, and mashes quite aggressively.

The Smash has also evolved by adding citrus and muddling fruit, and the mint can be replaced with more exotic herbs like basil, while the Mint Julep has remained largely traditional and is still served in its "tin cup".

The Smash is mentioned in Jerry Thomas' 1862 Bartender's Guide, where the famous bartender shares his recipe: "½ tablespoon white sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and 1 wineglass brandy." Thomas describes the Smash as "Mint Julep on a small scale," showing that it has always been a more pragmatic drink, easily enjoyed compared to the often more ostentatious Mint Julep.

Perhaps a casualty of America's Civil War and the lifestyle changes that followed, the Smash barely appears after the early 1860s. It would take over a hundred years for its comeback, largely credited to Dale DeGroff, who reinvented the whiskey version in New York in the late 1990s. "I was getting a little tired of Mint Juleps, so I muddled some lemon with the mint," DeGroff notes in his book The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Drinks. It was a version that many modern Smashes now emulate, often by muddling fruit with the mint instead of just adding it as juice – but not always.

A truly versatile cocktail where one can simply let creativity run wild.

Various types of spirits can be used as a base for Summer Smashes, and here we have chosen one with rum:

Strawberry Basil Smash
Recipe suggestion:

• 6 cl Appleton Estate Signature Blend V/X Jamaican Rum
• 2 cl sugar syrup
• 4 lemon slices cut in half (remove seeds)
• 2 strawberries
• 8-10 basil leaves
• Strawberry slices and basil sprig for garnish

You buy the following in the cocktail package:

• 1 bottle Appleton Signature Blend Rum
• 1 bottle Giffard Sugar Syrup
  

Steps:

• In a shaker, mash/muddle lemon slices, strawberries, and basil leaves together
• Add rum and sugar syrup
• Fill the shaker with ice and shake well
• Pour the mixture into a glass filled with ice
• Garnish with strawberry slices and a basil sprig

Inspiration from @AndersErickson