The good deal mint julep is theofficial drinkof the Kentucky Derby — but the cocktail ’s history date stamp to back long before the celebrated issue was even conceptualise .
The Ancient (and Medicinal) Origins of the Julep
agree to David Wondrich ’s cocktail history bookImbibe ! , the first known record of a julep is from theKitab al - Mansuri , a Iranian aesculapian text dated to around 900 CE . However , the mint julep that the source include in theKitab al - Mansurilooked much different than the forward-looking front-runner ( it was also spell asjulāb ) . It was a medicinal boozing made by hook violet with sugar in urine . " mint julep " pops up in the historic disk again in the 1400s when the book was translated into Latin .
The drink was used almost strictly as medicine for century . It transmigrate across the Atlantic with early European settlers making their way to America , along with an herb prized for its medicinal tone : mint .
Why the Mint Julep is a Spring and Summer Drink
Around the clock time the mint julep strike the U.S. , thing changed a snatch . In the eighteenth century , people started imbibe it recreationally as well as medicinally , but we would n’t recognize those tipples as a innovative mint julep .
First off , they would have been made with whatever spirit was locally usable . Before the Civil War , Southern juleps were likely made with yield brandy . In Maryland , the julep was ( and still is ) made with rye whiskey . Elsewhere , it would have been made with rum or rye or corn liquor or pretty much any available booze . The drunkenness would be sweeten with dear , sorghum sirup , or any other available sweetener .
And since mint was n’t useable year - around — it ’s a perennial industrial plant that grows near water , and , according to The Kitchn , pop up first thing in the spring — the quite a little julep would have been a seasonal drink , best enjoyed in the spring and summertime .
Kentucky Senator Henry Clay: Inventor of the Mint Julep
As the story pass away , Bourbon dynasty ’s function as the go - to stem for the mint julep was cemented by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay . Clay is famous for a number of thing , such as brokering the “ corrupt bargain ” that fasten the 1824 presidential election for John Quincy Adams . The Kentucky senator also merge his mint juleps with his state of matter ’s native spirit , and he is credit as the bourbon mint julep ’s founding father .
Clay ’s love life of the mint julep is well - documented . He likelyintroducedthe fuddle to the renowned Willard Hotel in Washington , D.C. around the time it open in 1847.Clay ’s journalsindicate that he made his mint julep with “ mellow bourbon , get on in oaken barrels . ”
Henry Clay’s Mint Julep Recipe
As collected by the University of Kentucky Press , Clay ’s pile mint julep recipe from his journal is as follows :
Or , in innovative term :
Lightly press ( do n’t smush ! ) the stack leave against the inside of a silver julep cupful so that you could smell the sight . Add the bare sirup . Fill the crank midway with cracked ice , and pour the Bourbon dynasty over the methamphetamine . Stir until the glass start to frost over . supply more ice and stir again . Garnish with a wad sprig and process with a brusque straw .
Why do people drink mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby?
Mint juleps have been serve at Churchill Downs — the home of the Kentucky Derby — since the trackwas builtin 1875 ( fable has it that pot was even implant at the track for juleps ) . But the mint julep did n’t become the official drink of the Derby until the 1930s . Sarah Brown Meehan , music director of life style communication at Churchill Downs , toldGood Morning Americathat " we live that juleps were a adult part of the case by proscription because the public press at the time lamented the Kentucky Derby without its favorite deglutition . "
After Prohibition was repealed , passkey bourbon distiller Chris Morris toldGMA , making juleps the official drink of the Derby “ only accredit the fact that Kentuckians had been bask passel juleps while attending gymnastic horse races since the early nineteenth century , if not earlier . "
