![]() ![]() “When it comes to refreshing yet alcoholic beverages-the liquid antidote to an interminably long and oppressively hot and humid summer afternoon-really, nothing can beat the Mint Julep,” Dobard says.Plus, it's an American classic. Host Your Own Kentucky Derby PartyWhether you make it specifically for the Derby or any hot day, the Mint Julep is pure whiskey refreshment. And in 1938, Churchill Downs-located in the heart of bourbon country-made the Mint Julep the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. (He also lists a whiskey-based variation on the recipe called the Whiskey Julep.) But after the Civil War, whiskey seems to have taken the place of brandy. “Ice was an expensive luxury, and presenting someone with an overflowing cup of ice showed them how much they were worth to you.”During the first half of the 19 th century, juleps would likely have contained rum or French brandy in fact, seminal early bartender Jerry Thomas gave a brandy-based recipe for the Mint Julep in both of his books. “Plus, piling the ice in mounds over the rim of the glass was a way for bartenders and proprietors to show their appreciation for customers,” he notes. In many Southern states in the 18th and 19th centuries, “mint was often used as a remedy for upset stomachs or digestive issues, and sweetened spirits were often used as a delivery method for medicines,” says Bryson Downham, beverage director at New Orleans' Toups South and Toups Meatery.From there, it was a simple jump to muddling just mint with spirits, Downham says. But by 1803, in the United States, the julep was understood as a "dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning”-as written by Englishman John Davis in his Travels of Four and a Half Years in the United States of America.It wasn't only Virginians enjoying variations of this drink. ![]() Early renditions of juleps would have been made from all types of spirits and might have contained any number of medicinal herbs. Dobard, director of The Museum of the American Cocktail. But the cocktail originated not as a refreshing trackside libation, but as medicine.“'Julep' means elixir, or liquid medicinal preparation, and is derived from the Spanish 'julepe', which comes from the Persian 'gulab', meaning rosewater,” explains Philip M. The Mint Julep has deep ties to the Kentucky Derby. ![]()
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