Prescription Julep

A historic variation on the mint julep combining cognac with rye whiskey, gently muddled with mint and sweetened with simple syrup for a more complex, split-base take on the Southern classic.

The Prescription Julep is a historically documented pre-Civil War julep recipe that uses cognac — and sometimes a split of cognac and rye whiskey — rather than the Kentucky bourbon that became the South's dominant julep spirit after the mid-19th century. In the antebellum period, New Orleans and the broader Gulf Coast were more regularly supplied with imported cognac from France than with Kentucky bourbon, and the city's bartenders worked with what the Atlantic trade networks provided. The Julep format itself — spirit, fresh mint, sugar, and crushed ice — is one of the oldest distinctly American cocktail structures, documented in American sources from the early 1800s. New Orleans bartender Chris McMillian, who worked at the Hotel Monteleone's Carousel Bar and became one of the most celebrated ambassadors of New Orleans cocktail heritage, championed the Prescription Julep's revival in the early 21st century through demonstrations at Tales of the Cocktail — the New Orleans cocktail festival founded by Ann Tuennerman in 2002 that became the world's largest annual cocktail industry gathering. McMillian's performances of the julep preparation — delivered with extended historical commentary while building the drink with visible care — became defining Tales of the Cocktail moments that documented the pre-bourbon julep tradition for a new generation.