maddprofessor

Recipes 

So I was thinking of brewing a beer for a Derby party and of course Mint Juleps crossed my mind. I'm not sure how well mint would go with beer. I saw a few recipes for mint stout but I'd be interested in something lighter, maybe a brown ale that I could add some bourbon to and would be more like a mint julep in beer form. Any ideas? Has anyone made anything similar?

Brewkowski

Recipes 

I think you might be able to find a thread from Revvy about making something called a Kentucky Common Ale. Can't remember what was in it, but I think it was more of an amberish ale instead of a stout, then throw in some mint and/or bourbon, or maybe just load it up with some "minty" variety of hops at the end of boil or dry hop.

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maddprofessor

Recipes 

Thanks. I think I will try working with that recipe, upping the OG and carmel malt a bit. I might try some of the "minty" hops and then before secondary see how it tastes with a little bourbon and/or homemade mint extract added.

Threetall

Recipes 

I'm brainstorming about this idea too actually.
I'm thinking starting with a bourbon barrel clone:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/kentucky-bourbon-barrel-ale-164527/
Making mint extract and test add to a glass of the stuff until it tastes appropriate. that is done fermenting then scale up for the rest of the batch.
However, the only issue is a mint julep has a candylike quality due to the simple syrup. How can I get that same sweetness?

Would lactose be the ticket?

Schemy

Recipes 

Boulevard Brewing did a Triple w/ mint aged in a whiskey barrel. It was pretty righteous. Really well done.

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Schemy

Threetall

Recipes 

reading about it sounds like they went with adding straight mint leaves. But everything I've read on here, people say how that doesn't effectively add a mint flavor.

maddprofessor

Recipes 

I made a partial mash Kentucky Common that was based on Revvy's recipe but upped the grain bill in hopes the bourbon won't overwhelm it. Also I used perle hops since some descriptions say it has some minty flavor. So far the beer tastes like a nice amber but I don't get any minty from the hops. My plan is to make my own mint extract with vodka and mint from my yard and add a little bourbon and mint to a sample of beer, and if I like where it's going rack off half the batch to mint-julep-ize and the bottle the other half as is since it's good too (and if something terrible happens to the mint julep batch I've still got some good beer).

I'll post my recipe later since it's at home.

maddprofessor

Recipes 

Here's my recipe from last year:
Derby Day Ale- Mint Julep

3.50 American Six-row Pale
3.00 Flaked Corn
0.25 Black Patent
0.50 American Crystal 120L
1.00 Flaked Rye

3.00 Light Malt Extract Syrup

1 oz Perle hops
(0.5 oz @ 60min, 0.5 oz @ 5 min I think is what I did)

I bottled 2 gallons of the beer as is, then took three gallons and turned mint julep-ized it. (Ya, julep is a verb now)

Soak 1 oz mint in 12 oz vodka for 12 hours. Replace with fresh mint for 12 hours, repeat once more for 12 hours. (using 3 oz mint total)

Add mint extract, ~12 oz bourbon, and a pinch of champagne yeast at bottling.

When brewing this again I will soak the mint in bourbon, and omit the vodka.

I'm brewing it again this year but may use cornmeal or grits in place of the flaked corn.