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Mint Julep

For Each Serving:
Mint leaves
Crushed ice
2 tablespoons mint syrup (see recipe below)
2 tablespoons water
3 ounces bourbon

Crush a few mint leaves in the bottom of an 8-ounce glass; crush mint with a spoon. Then fill with glass with crushed ice. Add mint syrup, water, and bourbon. Stir until glass is frosted. To serve, garnish with a fresh sprig of mint.

Makes 8 servings.
 

Mint Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 bunch fresh mint sprigs

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water. Boil for 5 minutes, without stirring. Pour over a handful of mint and gently crush the mint with a spoon. Refrigerator syrup mixture overnight in a closed jar. Remove mint leaves and continue to refrigerate. This syrup mixture will keep for several weeks.

Substitution for Mint Syrup:  Purchase a bottle of mint syrup (used for flavoring espresso drinks and Italian sodas).

"But my grandfather always insisted that a man who would let the crushed leaves and the mangled stemlets steep in the finished decoction would put scorpions in a baby's bed. Down our way we're always had a theory that the Civil War was not brought on by Secession of Slavery or the State's Rights issue. These matters contributed to the quarrel, but there is a deeper reason. It was bought on by some Yankee coming down south and putting nutmeg in a julep. So our folks up and left the Union flat."

by Irvin S. Cobb (1876-1944), American journalist and humorist
 

Mint Julep History:

This wonderfully refreshing drink comes to use from the southern states, but it is mainly credited to the traditions of Kentucky and the famous annual horse race the Kentucky Derby.

People from Charleston, South Carolina, also like to claim the mint julep as their own.

Mint juleps have been served in the south since the 1700s. A visitor in 1774, describing the southern menu and especially breakfast as being overly luxurious, observed that the average planter rose early and had his drink (because a julep before breakfast was believed to give protection against malaria).

Kentuckians maintain that when a mint julep is made right, you can hear angels sing. Always made with fresh mint, Kentucky bourbon, and plenty of crushed or shaved ice, it is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. Traditionally, mint juleps are served in silver or pewter cups (which frost better than glass). Thousands of mint juleps are served every year at the Derby, on the first Saturday in May, at Churchill Downs, and at weekend Derby parties around the nation.

The racetracks' clubhouse began mixing mint juleps around 1875. The drink really became popular and became the track's signature libation in 1938 when the management began charging 75 cents for the drink and the small glass vessel it came in. Every year during Derby week at Churchill Downs, more than 80,000 mint juleps are served.