Which Bourbon Makes The Best Mint Julep? We Blind Taste Tested And Ranked Bottles Just In Time For The Kentucky Derby

It’s Kentucky Derby time!

The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports is gearing up for its 151st running, and that means we’re in prime Mint Julep season. The big race is taking place this Saturday, May 3rd, so you’re going to want to stock up on the best bourbon for Mint Juleps ahead of the weekend — but that begs the question: what is the best bourbon for making a Mint Julep?

Woodford Reserve is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, so it makes sense to go with that, but does that mean the contest is already decided? There’s only one way to find out: by pitting it against some of the other top bourbons on the market in a blind taste test!

The field below includes several selections directly connected to horse racing, if not the Kentucky Derby itself. We’ve got a few classic Kentucky bourbons in the pack, along with newcomers, which should make for an exciting time that will definitely take me more than two minutes to mix and drink.

Each of these bottles is delicious on its own, but they’ll be jockeying for a different type of crown when used as the base of The Run for the Roses’ most iconic cocktail.

We used a pretty standard recipe:

That’s it!

Now, let’s dive in and find the best bourbon to use in a Mint Julep for the 151st Kentucky Derby!

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Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

The first sip of this Mint Julep is…almost peachy. It begins with some light mint, and it has great body and balance. This is sweet and refreshing without being overpowering, and it has the added benefit of some restrained spice notes. This is A1 stuff, and for those keeping score at home, it has about a 7/10 on the sweetness scale.

I absolutely love this one.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

This Mint Julep recipe starts off really juicy and fruity like a red berry explosion with a little vanilla and restrained mint, plus a bit of black pepper. Despite that initial boldness, on the second sip, this one becomes fairly cloying with a sweetness level of about 9/10.

If you’re really into sweet drinks, this might be for you, but I won’t be having another.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Hello, beautiful. This is a very sweet and red-berry-forward Mint Julep, but it’s also balanced with vanilla and mint featured just as prominently. It’s juicy and fairly refreshing with some cinnamon bark appearing on the back end. Yup this is damn good.

This is an 8/10 on the sweetness scale, and, overall, this feels like a straight-up baseline Mint Julep.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

This spin on a Mint Julep features the freshest taste of red berries so far, with a bit of red apple, too. It’s incredibly refreshing, and the mint balances out the fruit impressively, but there are some really good black pepper notes too. This comes across as classic but elevated. For those who prefer a slightly sweeter Mint Julep, this one lands at an 8/10.

This strikes me as the most crowd-pleasing of the lot thus far.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

Hey now! This is the most minty and herbaceous Mint Julep so far, but with an impressive, understated sweetness to balance it out. The sweetness is only a 6.5/10, but this is a refreshing riff that will hit the spot for folks who like a more herbal take on the Derby’s classic cocktail.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

Whoa! This Mint Julep brings a bunch of unexpected nuttiness and blends that with some surprising milk chocolate. The mint is there too, so it’s like a mint milk chocolate julep — that’s amazing. The sweetness is even-keeled at about a 7/10, but this is the most unique of them all.

If you’re into milk chocolate (and who isn’t?), this will be your jam.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

Interesting! This one is distinctly bubble gummy at first. The second sip highlights more mint gum with some decent black pepper in the mix, too. The sweetness level is moderate at about a 7.5. This is the least exciting Mint Julep of the bunch, but it’s not bad at all, just a bit bland.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

Well, that’s weird. This one has some of the bubble gumminess of the last one and some of the nuttiness of sample 6. There’s also some brown sugar and red berries. This one is really interesting, and I could see myself sitting with it for a long time just to appreciate the various layers of flavor.

It isn’t outstanding in any one way, but it is perhaps the most curious and complex of them all, with a sweetness of about 8.5/10.

Part 2: The Ranking

8. Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon — Taste 2

ABV: 47%
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

To call Elijah Craig a classic bourbon is to echo what’s been said about it 100 times over. Named after a famed Baptist preacher, Reverend Elijah Craig is credited, by the brand at least, as the “father of bourbon.”

Bottom Line:

The fact that my beloved Elijah Craig Small Batch was bringing up the rear in this tasting definitely surprised me. Despite the fact that standard Elijah Craig isn’t all that sweet, this Mint Julep featured the most cloying and overpowering sweetness of the lot, which left me craving water more than another sip.

I’m going to stick to drinking Elijah Craig in Old Fashioneds or neat, because this Mint Julep didn’t do it for me at all.

7. Green River Bourbon — Taste 7

ABV: 45%
Average Price: $38

The Whiskey:

Green River, aged for five years with a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley, is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The brand has a history dating back to 1885, and this revival is under the Bardstown Bourbon Company umbrella.

Bottom Line:

This is a Mint Julep that I thought would have more pep in its step, but ultimately it just fell a little flat. I could see Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Origin Series High Rye Bourbon having a bit more zip, and I’ll definitely be experimenting with that one, but this Green River Bourbon Mint Julep just didn’t have any of the giddy-up I was hoping for.

6. Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon — Taste 3

ABV: 45%
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon blends four of the brand’s recipes: OBSK, OESK, OBSO, and OESO, to create one product. The whiskeys are aged for six to seven years before being blended, cut with soft Kentucky water, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

Despite being near the back of the pack, I had absolutely no complaints about this Mint Julep recipe. If anything, it was a step behind others on this list simply because it nailed the baseline flavor of the cocktail without really presenting anything outstanding of its own.

If you want a bang-up, standard Mint Julep then this is the one for you.

5. Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon — Taste 5

ABV: 46.5%
Average Price: $135

The Whiskey:

One of the most polarizing and hyped bourbons in all of the land, Blanton’s is the original single-barrel bourbon. Launched in 1984, each bottle of Blanton’s is the product of a single barrel, an idea hatched by Buffalo Trace’s then Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee.

Bottom Line:

I actually thought this one would fare better in the blind tasting, but that’s not to say it isn’t excellent. The herbaceous notes and restrained sweetness really worked well together to create a deeply intriguing and complex cocktail that will be the top choice of folks who tend to eschew more sugary mixed drinks.

I can see this being someone’s favorite, but given the stiff competition, it just wasn’t my preference.

4. Pinhook Straight Bourbon — Taste 8

ABV: 49%
Average Price: $43

The Whiskey:

Pinhook’s flagship bourbon is produced in super small batches to help dial in the desired flavor profile. Aged for at least three years in new, charred oak barrels, you can typically expect notes of banana bread, butterscotch, red apple, and hazelnuts in this expression.

Bottom Line:

This makes a Mint Julep for folks who love theirs on the sweeter side. That intriguing mint bubblegum note kept me coming back to the glass to give this one my full attention.

It isn’t your typical Mint Julep, but damn it, it does the job better than most.

3. Knob Creek Small Batch Bourbon — Taste 6

ABV: 50%
Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

As one of the original members of the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, Knob Creek 9-Year is an absolute classic in the world of bourbon. This whiskey utilizes Beam’s low-rye mash bill and features a small batch of barrels mingled together and then proofed to 50% ABV before bottling.

Bottom Line:

I was thoroughly impressed by how unique and milk chocolatey this Mint Julep was. As someone who really enjoys that flavor profile, I can definitely see myself opting for this one above all others at times throughout the weekend. I can also easily see someone who prefers it more than I do absolutely crushing these all summer long.

Don’t sleep, this stuff is damn good.

2. Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby 151st Special Release — Taste 4

ABV: 45.2%
Average Price: $50 (1 Liter)

The Whiskey:

This is the Kentucky Derby in a bottle. This year’s commemorative bottling to honor the 151st Run for the Roses was designed by artist Humberto Lahera and showcases Woodford Reserve’s iconic bourbon at its finest.

Bottom Line:

It turns out that you really have to hand it to the classics. I was pretty skeptical that this tried-and-true Mint Julep base would really rise to the top, but you can’t argue with the results of a blind taste test.

A Woodford Reserve Mint Julep is pretty much as good as it gets.

1. Blackwood Distilling Toasted 105-Proof Bourbon — Taste 1

ABV: 52.5%
Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

Blackwood Distilling’s newly launched 105-proof bourbon is an absolute delight. Like all products under the brand’s belt, this one was finished in custom toasted casks to add complexity, nuance, and depth. At its core, however, this is an 8-year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, finished in coveted charred and toasted barrels from Kelvin Cooperage.

Bottom Line:

Talk about a dark horse! Blackwood Distilling’s Bourbon is the newest expression on this list, and one we’ve been digging since it was first released earlier this year. Given the brand’s close ties to horse racing, it’s great to see this one outpace the pack to claim the top spot.

Without a doubt, this was the best bourbon we’ve found for making Mint Juleps. Now, grab a glass and get to mixing; this dark horse is ready for the winner’s circle.