Mint Julep

Bourbon, spearmint, sugar, and crushed ice — documented since 1803, the Kentucky Derby's official drink since at least the 1930s, 120,000 served each Derby weekend.

The Mint Julep is one of the oldest continuously documented American cocktails, with one of its earliest written references provided by English traveler John Davis who described Virginians in the early morning drinking a dram of spirituous liquor with mint in it in his 1803 account of American life. The format — bourbon, fresh spearmint, sugar, and crushed ice in a silver or pewter cup — developed through the early 19th century as bourbon became the dominant American spirit. The Mint Julep has been the official drink of the Kentucky Derby since at least the 1930s; Churchill Downs in Louisville serves approximately 120,000 Mint Juleps across the two-day Derby weekend each May, making it one of the most consumed single cocktail preparations at any American sporting event. The word julep derives through Old French and Medieval Latin from the Arabic julab and ultimately from the Persian gulab, meaning rose water — the sweetened, scented preparation that the word originally described before its meaning shifted to medicinal and then alcoholic sweetened preparations. The silver Mint Julep cup, which frosts on the exterior through condensation, is as much a defining visual element of the drink as its flavor.