The Friday Cocktail - Kentucky Derby Edition

The Buckner Mint Julep Ceremony

In honor of Saturday's Kentucky Derby and the beautiful spring, I present to you, the Mint Julep. As with most classic coctails recipes vary and the site linked above tells a wonderful tale of one illustrious Kentucky family's history with the Mint Julep. I snippet from a letter from General Buckner dated March 30, 1937,

"My dear General Connor,

Your letter requesting my formula for mixing mint juleps leaves me in the same position in which Captain Barber found himself when asked how he was able to carve the image of an elephant from a block of wood. He replied that it was a simple process consisting merely of whittling off the part that didn't look like an elephant.

The preparation of the quintessence of gentlemanly beverages can be described only in like terms. A mint julep is not the product of a FORMULA. It is a CEREMONY and must be performed by a gentleman possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the ingredients and a proper appreciation of the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice, a statistician, nor a Yankee. It is a heritage of the old South, an emblem of hospitality and a vehicle in which noble minds can travel together upon the flower-strewn paths of happy and congenial thought."

He continues to give a recipe with much room for interpretation and adaptation. This is also my approach. All mint juleps will have mint, sugar (or sugar syrup) and bourbon. Most recipes are some variation of muddling a few mint leaves with the sugar (maybe a drop or two of water to help the mix) then filling a tall glass or preferably a julep cup with ice, then bourbon and maybe a little more water. I will say that the best juleps I've ever made were during my PhD graduation party and of course my memory could be colored by the joy of the occasion, but I have replicated the procedure to similar results in other occasions. This is a great way to prepare for making several batches of juleps for parties, however it does take some of the "CEREMONY" out of it.

Infuse a bottle of bourbon with as much mint as you can fit in overnight. Make a sugar syrup. Allow each guest to choose their own mix of syrup to mint bourbon. Be sure to garnish with a fresh sprig of mint to enchant the nose prior to sipping. This approach to Julep preparation dovetails nicely with another story of the Buckner family, when Gen. Buckner was running for Governor of Kentucky and dealing with a delicate situation involving a prominent prohibitionist:

The General:

'I am a temperate man; was never intoxicated in my life, and never expect to be; but at the same time, sir, I live in a very remote part of this country from your beautiful bluegrass region here--down in the knobs of Green River, on the place where I was born, and which I love very much; but I am especially fond of a beautiful spring on my place,' said I. 'It has a large volume of water gushing out of the rocks and flowing over a number of little precipices, forming a series of beautiful cascades, until the water mingles with that of the brook that flows at the base of the hill,' says I. 'Around the mouth of this spring, growing in great profusion, are immense beds of mint, its roots watered by the cool spring, and diffusing its aroma in all the air around; and as I sit upon the banks of that stream, listening to its murmurings over the rocks, it does seem to me, sir, that it is clamoring for some other ingredient to mix with them. So I keep that ingredient at my house, and if I can induce a friend, by its intricate appropaches, to that sequestered spot, I invariably put these three elements before him, with a little sugar, and tell him to mix them to suit himself. And I have read in books of Oriental travel where the people of the East are in the habit of poisoning each other, it has the custom of the host to taste his own poison first, to convince his guests that it would not hurt them. I invariably follow that beautiful Oriental custom.'

The Prohibitionist:

'I think that is allowable.'

Now, the best Mint Julep I've ever had was prepared by my good friend Hunter, and I think the keys to his Julep "CEREMONY" were the use of a true silver julep cup and completely filling it with finely crushed ice to keep the drink perfectly cold on a hot summer afternoon. The setting of first sipping it on his parents expansive porch, then taking it on a horse drawn buggy ride around St. Francisville probably also enhanced the already fantastic cocktail.

Cheers!