The mint julep has been the official drink of the Kentucky Derby since 1938. Well over 100,000 of them are drunk at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, but the sweet bourbon cocktail is a warm-weather favorite throughout the year and well beyond Kentucky. Dating back to the early nineteenth century, when alcoholic beverages were considered by some to be medicinal, the term julep can refer to any sweet libation that does something more than merely slake thirst. Consisting of bourbon, mint sprigs, muddled mint leaves, and simple syrup, with plenty of ice, mint juleps traditionally are served in silver beakers that expert drinkers know to hold only by the top and bottom edge so as not to transfer their hand’s heat to the beverage. (The old Seelbach Bar in Louisville still uses silver cups.)
While the exact history of the drink is unknown, Vicksburg, Mississippi, claims to be the “first place anyone stuck a sprig of fresh mint into bourbon” and asserts that the mint julep was named for Mint Springs in the Vicksburg National Military Park. Other accounts credit Virginians for having invented it as a morning pick-me-up. Some historians trace the name back to an ancient Arabic drink called the julab, sweetened with rose petals, the petals ultimately replaced by mint.