In 1862, Jerry Thomas would have been happy to make you a Whiskey Smash and it would have gone something like this:
2 ounces of whiskey
1 TBSP water
1/2 TBSP sugarStirred to mix, poured into a small bar glass two-thirds full of shaved ice, garnished with two sprigs of mint ("same as in the recipe for a mint julep").
Twenty-nine years later, William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby would have served you something similar. In fact, the recipe in his 1891 book American Bar-Tender consists entirely of "A small Whiskey Julep, with the rum flavor omitted. (See Juleps.)" In other words:
"Fill a large goblet with fine ice and pour a jigger of whiskey over it; then take several sprigs of young, tender mint and place them in a medium-size mixing-glass with a dessertspoonful of bar sugar and just enough water to nearly fill the goblet, in which you have already placed the fine ice and whiskey. Press the mint with a muddler until the sugar is all dissolved and the water is well-flavored with mint, strain into the goblet of ice and whiskey, ornament with fruits and a few sprigs of mint which have been moistened and dipped in sugar, and serve with straws.
Jump forward half a century, to W.C. Whitfield's 1941 book Here's How and little has changed.
"Use Old Fashioned cocktail glass. Dissolve 1 lump of sugar in a few dashes of carbonated water. Add four sprigs of fresh mint and crush slightly. Fill glass with cracked ice. Add 1 jigger of rye or bourbon. Decorate with lemon peel and slice of orange.
Another leap, to 2002, and Dale DeGroff's take on the drink, and we've only gotten a little juicier:
With the same basic recipe Jerry Thomas used 140 years earlier, include two lemon pieces in your muddling and, unlike Whitfield, let the mint serve as the entire garnish.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
