Ruth's Chris & Bulleit Bourbon, a marriage rooted in New Orleans

It was a luncheon that will live forever in my mind-Ruth's Chris and Bulleit Bourbon announce a partnership, one that results in the New Orleans' born steak house featuring non other than Bulleit Bourbon mint juleps on its cocktail menus national wide.

The spread was flush with tapenades, medium rare steak and jumbo lump crab martinis paired with either a sparkling pear mint julep or the traditional version. It was divine. 

During the presentation Tom Bulleit and his whiskey expert daughter Hollis banter back and forth but ultimately Hollis says the relationship with her father is certainly mutually beneficial. After all, "she knows what a whiskey mash smells like cooking."

Tom's great great grandfather Augustus invented the recipe in the 1830s and while transporting his elixir to New Orleans he disappeared. With an incredible entrepreneurial spirit, Ruth Fertel was the originator of the American Steak House category straight out of New Orleans. 

In 1987, Tom fulfilled his lifelong dream of reviving his family's bourbon legacy.

Hollis emphasizes the importance of the bourbon finish in cocktails and says, "it should be a marriage, not a masking."

When pairing Bulleit with steak, you'll have a sweeter finish, with bread pudding more of a pepper finish. 

While chatting with him and Ruth's Chris National Beverage Program Director Helen Mackey, he advised her to capture the countless late Ruth Fertel stories for a book to celebrate the brands' 50th Anniversary in 2015. 

"We are still looking for Augustus and our history," Tom says. "He may be here at Tales of the Cocktail for all we know."