Saturday is the Kentucky Derby, and at Churchill Downs in Louisville and Derby parties everywhere, people will try a mint julep because it’s a tradition to drink mint juleps on Derby Day.
Some people, out of kindness or perhaps because they’re already drunk, will claim to love it, but others will say, “Um, that’s not at all what I was expecting,” and quietly set their glasses down and hope no one notices because you don’t want to offend the host.
I was born in Kentucky, and I always enjoyed Derby Week, but I tend to agree with an old newspaper man I worked with years ago who believed a mint julep is a terrible waste of good bourbon.
Juleps are a Southern thing, a concoction of bourbon, water, spearmint leaves and sugar. No one’s sure who invented it or when, but a Londoner who worked as a tutor on a Southern plantation wrote a book in 1803 and described the drink as “a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.”
I suspect people drank mint juleps at the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, but mint juleps didn’t really become a Derby tradition until Churchill Downs began selling souvenir mint julep glasses in 1938.
On paper, a mint julep sounds like it would work. You have bourbon, sugar, water and spearmint — not a bad ingredient in the bunch.
Mint juleps look good, too, when they’re done right (see above). You’re supposed to serve mint juleps in silver cups filled with crushed ice; you stir the drink quickly to frost the cup and garnish with a mint sprig.
It really is a handsome drink.
Juleps aren’t especially handsome in those sweaty souvenir glasses at the Derby, and some would argue they aren’t really juleps. By tradition, juleps are made of bourbon, but Churchill Downs has a contract with Early Times, which is technically a whisky, not a bourbon.
But a drink isn’t about the look. It’s about the taste, and this is where things fall apart.
Not enough sugar and water, and it packs a wallop you’re not expecting from a supposedly genteel drink. Too much sugar and water, and it’s too sweet. I suppose there’s a sweet spot, where the flavors are balanced just right, but I never bothered to find it.
People in Kentucky only drink mint juleps at the races. Once the Derby’s over, you’ll be hard pressed to find a mint julep anywhere in the commonwealth. There’s a reason Kroger doesn’t stock mint sprigs the rest of the year.
On Derby Day, if you really want to drink what the locals drink, have a sweet tea or a beer a glass of wine.
But if you’re wondering, here’s how to make a mint julep:
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 5 fresh mint sprigs for the syrup, plus extra for garnish
- bourbon
- crushed ice
Directions
- Boil the sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves
- Pour the syrup into a container with the mint sprigs and refrigerate overnight
- Fill a small cup with crushed ice
- Add a tablespoon of syrup and four tablespoons of bourbon and stir. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig
You may have left Kentucky, but Kentucky clearly hasn’t left you!
True.
I’ve never had a mint julep, and after reading this, I’ll stick with never trying it. I have a problem with leaves being in my drink. Especially mint leaves. I discovered this with my first mojito.
It’s kind of like a mojito. If you don’t like those, you probably wouldn’t like these.
Not much of a drinker, but I’ve always wanted to try a mint julep — must be the Southerner in me!
I’ve always suspectged that a lot of the mint juleps sold at the Derby are tried then poured out or given away.
It sounds a lot like a mojito, which also takes some skill to prepare correctly. Both drinks require too much work, though. Just give me a vodka tonic or a slightly chilled glass of red any day.
I know. I mean, who keeps mint leaves in the crisper?
Sweet drinks like that can be very good, or the exact opposite. A mojito, also done with simple syrup and mint is great, done right. In the wrong hands theyre disatrous
That’s why I like bourbon or bourbon-and-Coke — but in the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that a bottle of bourbon lasts me 2-3 years, and that includes using some in recipes. Truth to tell, I’m mostly a Diet Coke and sweet tea kind of guy.
I’ve never had one but I like mint and I like whiskey…
I like mojitos…?
I got to be at Churchill Downs during the Derby once. It was a madhouse. I wasn’t there “on purpose,” was doing something else and decided to drive-by (ride, I was in the backseat). We were so “out of it,” that we didn’t know the Derby was running that day. What larks!
My Gram used to own race horses and said she did enjoy the mint juleps but I think the key is you have to drink 3 or 5 before they get good.
That’s so funny, just stumbling into Derby Day. You should blog about that (if you haven’t already). You aren’t the first to say that juleps taste OK after you’ve had a few juleps.
I’ve never had bourbon before…
Those ingredients sound good on their own, Todd, but I agree that maybe mixing them might not be a good idea: I like mushrooms, peanut butter, clams, and fiddleheads, but wouldn’t consider eating them all at the same time…
Wendy
I was going to send you a batch of my clam-and-fiddlehead bisque with mushrooms and Jif, but, clearly, it would just be wasted on you.
Sports traditions are hard to break, maybe because they’re part of what makes the event fun and memorable.
This would explain the funny hats women wear at the Derby.
I was wondering if anyone knows how much it is to buy a siver mint julip cup? and who makes the best one at the derby
I checked the Kentucky Derby Museum Store’s website, and a classic pewter julep cup is $50 while a silver julep cup with the recipe engraved on the side is $82.50. I guess handsome doesn’t come cheap.
http://www.derbymuseumstore.com/glassware/julep-cups.html
Thanks Todd
I have to wonder, since the Julep was invented before air-conditioning, if that extra spritz of mint, so cool and refreshing, wasn’t what sold the drink in the hot, humid, lazy southern summers? We don’t think much of that now, because we can sit under an electric fan or in an air-conditioned room…
I always think back to those poor girls in those giant hoop skirts with layers and layers of fabric in Gone With the Wind- where I live the horrid, tropical heat is already opressive, and thats with! air conditioning.
Also, I wonder, how did people even keep/make ice, before freezers were invented?
Ice houses. They’d store blocks of ice in underground bunkers and use it during the summer. I read somewhere once that they used to ship ice from New England to the South.
I didn’t grow up in the south, but I can remember when I was maybe three years old, the ice man coming. My mom would put a block of ice in the ice box to keep things cold. Then we got a Frigidaire.
I am not a fan of mint juleps. I had one last year and it took me 3 hours to drink it. The mint… it just throws off the caramel tones of the bourbon and it’s… it’s… it’s not good. Now an old fashion, on the other hand, is a superb bourbon cocktail.
Here I was, excited that someone had finally combined all the awesomeness of (roller) derby and the Clovers’ “One Mint Julep” into blog form. Though, after reading what you’ve said, about how mint juleps taste horrible, but are quite powerful, I’m beginning to understand the narrative of the song a bit better. (As for roller derby, those girls seem to drink beer and shots most often.)
Ha!