Mint julep: The origins of the Derby's official drink
It's impossible to think of another cocktail and sporting event so closely interwoven as the potent, leafy Southern sipper and America's most famous horse race.
'The mint julep has probably been with us since the very first Kentucky Derby,' says Chris Goodlett, senior curator of collections at the Kentucky Derby Museum, which is adjacent to the Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky.
Juleps – mint and sugar stirred with crushed ice and spirits like bourbon and rum – were a staple of genteel society below the Mason-Dixon line since the early 1800s, guzzled by Virginian farmers in the morning as a restorative.
The link between juleps and the racetrack dates back to at least the 1820s, when references appear to sterling silver julep cups being awarded as trophies to first-place jockeys. 'It ties together two of Kentucky's most well-known industries: horse racing and bourbon,' says Goodlett.
Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. built the Churchill Downs facility and inaugurated the debut Kentucky Derby in 1875. The grandson of William Clark of the 1804 expedition fame, Clark Jr. was a colorful figure in his own right, known for ending arguments by brandishing a gun.
The first bit of famous Derby julep lore occurred in 1877 when the event welcomed a celebrity visitor: the famous Polish actress Helena Modjeska. As legend has it, Clark toasted to Helena as she was passed a very large mint julep, meant for sharing with a group. Helena liked it so much she kept it for herself and ordered another.
By the 1920s, the drink was an ingrained enough ritual at the Derby that at the onset of Prohibition, Southern newspapers were filled with accounts of journalists bemoaning the fact that they wouldn't be able to sip their beloved juleps at the races any longer.
But it wasn't till 1939 that the mint julep actually became the event's official drink. Racetrack managers realized that visitors were stealing the water glasses that juleps were served in, and decided to start selling the glasses as souvenirs.
Today, the julep is embedded in Derby ceremony itself: at the Winner's Party, the governor of Kentucky toasts to the victor with a sterling silver julep cup.
Of course, it's not mere historical coincidence that juleps became such a popular accessory at the race. Properly made, the mint julep is one of the most delicious and refreshing drinks in the American cocktail pantheon, and one best imbibed at an unhurried pace.
The ice slowly melts inside the frosted julep tin, fusing with golden-brown bourbon and the oils released from fresh mint. The boozy nectar formed as a result has been the next best thing to air-conditioning since the 19th century.
The Derby is popularly known as the 'most exciting two minutes in sports,' but the mint julep is a drink built for the long haul.
The Kentucky Derby pours Old Forester bourbon in their juleps, but high-quality, high-proof bourbons like Old Grandad 114 or Blanton's can give the drink a stronger backbone and richer flavor.
2 oz bourbon
1 tbsp mint syrup
Mint
Ice
Make a simple syrup by boiling two cups sugar and two cups of water until dissolved. Once cooled, add six or eight sprigs of fresh mint and refrigerate overnight. To make one julep, add one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces bourbon to a julep tin, and then add crushed ice while stirring until frost forms. Mound ice on top, garnish generously with mint, and serve with a straw.
Christopher Ross is a Philadelphia-based journalist writing for publications including the Wall Street Journal Magazine, Travel + Leisure and Bloomberg Pursuits.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Parker Posey reveals ‘The White Lotus' fans are making sure she's living a comfortable life
'Thank you, darling! I dressed up for you! I got the flowers in the kitchen!' Parker Posey says, accepting a compliment on how fabulous she looks popping up on our Zoom interview from the Chateau Marmont, wearing her now signature pink glasses and a chic scarf. Although the certified Legend earned her first Emmy nomination last year for guesting on Prime Video's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Posey considers this her first real awards season, and she's doing it right. If you watched Season 3 of HBO's The White Lotus, you already know that Posey could do no wrong as Victoria Ratliff, the North Carolina matriarch whom show creator Mike White described to the actress as a younger version of Grey Gardens' eccentric Big Edie. Having grown up in Louisiana and Mississippi, Posey couldn't wait to choose her (much-imitated) Southern accent. "I love how funny it sounds. I love how there seems to be an emphasis on feeling but not actually what you're saying," she explains. She zeroed in on Victoria's lines about her country club life. "She's under this grip of achievements, and money, and what people should do and how they should live," Posey says. "I looked at her as someone who was programmed in this kind of male-dominated world. But underneath it all, there was someone lost and waiting to come out. That's why I like her [tsunami] dream so much [in Episode 3]. A character has a dream, then that gives such another dimension to her and what's going on with her." More from GoldDerby Animal skins, clothes-swapping, and those terrifying masks: How 'Yellowjackets' costume designer works with Liv Hewson and cast 'The Last of Us': Gabriel Luna on shooting flamethrowers and what Season 3 could mean for Tommy 'The Studio' dominates 2025 Astra TV Awards with 4 wins, including Best Comedy; 'Severance' takes Best Drama Here, Posey shares how she found inspiration for some of Victoria's most memorable moments — and which scenes fans won't let her forget. Gold Derby: You've said that if Victoria hadn't been funny, she would have come across as a terrible person. Was that your biggest challenge, making her likable? Parker Posey: Yeah, you're exactly right. You know, The White Lotus is already like a brand. So we know what kind of characters we're dealing with. We're dealing with the 1 percent, and then the hospitality industry in these hotels, right? Everyone likes a snob when you look at characters in movies and TV shows, like the person who's just obnoxious. So having a [slips into Victoria's drawl] snotty way of talking, it's really juicy. So I was happy to be able to deliver that. I mean, I hope it's OK. You know I wasn't always confident, in the beginning especially. But I love Evil Under the Sun and Murder on the Orient Express, and these characters, they're almost drawn, they're kind of animated. I remember being a little kid and watching these movies and looking forward to being a grown-up and acting this way. Maggie Smith, and who else was in Evil Under the Sun? Peter Ustinov. You know they had this style and this way of being that you knew they were acting and having fun as they were playing these people, you know, but they were very drawn. It was very archetypal. And so that was fun to enter into that story world of whodunit, you know, and just playing someone who you don't really know what she's capable of doing. Do you trust her? Is she trustworthy? Is she high on lorazepam? What's going on? So all that stuff was such good fun. There's an arc with Victoria, from almost childlike to formidable: When she arrives at the White Lotus, I love how nervous she is when Pam (Morgana O'Reilly) brings up taking a test. And then cut to when she's off the lorazepam and she's the one, not husband Timothy (), who finds a way to stop Piper () from staying in Thailand. What was it like for you to play that change? It was so fun to just play a full-on woman, you know. Like, when she's in a bad way and she needs to take to bed, she's gonna take to bed. And Timothy and the whole family is going to abide by that and take care of mom and worry about mom and hope she's OK. And then, like on a dime, she can drink a cup of coffee and get the show on the road and do some detective work. [Laughs] That kind of drama. She's just a drama queen. Tell me about filming the scene in the finale when Piper reveals to Timothy and Victoria that she isn't staying in Thailand. It's so fun to watch you, as Victoria, figure out what Piper's really saying. You escalate Victoria's response to the hug. Was the thumbs up you give scripted or something that just came to you? No, that was totally scripted. And that was such a beautiful day of work for Sarah Catherine. We shot a lot in a condensed amount of time, and we shot that, I think, within the first or second week. So I didn't know really what the path of Piper was. … It's so tragic in that scene, so much about not being able to escape your family and to accept the limits of what you are capable of doing. And so really what she's saying is, "I'll never be able to leave you." And it's that powerful mother and father that have their child going, "I gotta come back to you." I just thought it's just such great writing and such a great arc. But that was all Mike White. She hugs, and she's like [gives a thumbs up], "Got her!" [Laughs] Jason told me how much he with a live audience and hearing people's reactions to certain scenes. Is there any particular scene you'd have loved to hear the response to? I haven't watched the show yet, and I wasn't there for the finale [screening] because I was working. But I talked to John Valerio, our editor, and I said, "Can you remind me of the piña colada scene? Because all I remember is, it was at like 4 o'clock in the morning. We improvised a lot of different bits, right? We were talking about desserts?" He's like, "That's not in it." He said in the editing of that scene, what was fun is the stuff that was added, just the energy of the scene. Mike would throw out funny lines, like ["Is that it, Tim? Have you ever heard of wine?"]. To be able to work with an ensemble, and to be able to build moments along with the director, who's written the story and knows it so well, it's like all these characters coming to life right in front of his eyes. It's such a remarkable thing. Every actor I've spoken to this awards season has talked about how much they love that on-set collaboration. It made me wonder about a line in Episode 2, when Victoria finds out that Jaclyn () is a famous actress and says, "Actresses are all basically prostitutes… if they're lucky." The laughter from your costars seemed genuine. Was that scripted or something thrown in? "If they're lucky" was thrown in, yeah. And that was my first day of work. Mike is so funny, because you can just hear him cackling. Has anyone done his cackle for you? Patrick (Schwarzenegger) has. It's like [shrieks twice]. Another scene that I thought might also have been enhanced by you was the house party in Episode 7 when Victoria is talking to the Thai beauty (played by Praya Lundberg), asking why she's with her older boyfriend, and telling her to come to North Carolina: "Are you scared of him? I could get you out of this." Praya was a really lovely person. We just connected on set [filming an earlier scene], and I adored her. And I told Mike. I was like, "I love Praya. Can we have a scene with her?" And he thought about it. And then he was like, "I know what I wanna do. I'm gonna bring her into the party," to the scenes that you're talking about. But that [dialogue] was all Mike. … We spent almost seven months [in Thailand], and when I went back to the premiere, people there were like, "Welcome home." Like, it's so hospitable, and the people are so lovely and kind. So I still feel like I'll be returning there soon, even though I'm not. What was cool about the experience was there was the hotel working next to us, and the Butlers. Did I read that you and Natasha Rothwell took the butlers out to dinner? God, that was such a perfect night. That was such a perfect night! Yes, we took our butlers at the Four Seasons. [Names them.] We bonded with them. They were just such cool women, you know. And when they knew that I like to just hang out — we were staying there for like two months — I felt like I got to know them a little bit, and to know just the kind of people that they are. And I just love them. "You know Khun Parker, you don't need a man if they don't enhance your life. And if they don't enhance your life, why…." [Laughs] They were, like, giving advice. … One of my favorite nights was going to set watching Lisa perform [as Mook]. And I watched Lisa dance, and it was so beautiful. The way that they just move, and that beauty, that's their culture. So I cried when I left Four Seasons, and I know how ridiculous that sounds. But I cried, like looking out of the van and waving goodbye to them. We were like, "We'll be back in like six months, five months," and when we came back. … Natasha, Michelle, and I took them all out to dinner. They were all obsessed with Lisa, and it just so happened that Lisa worked that day, and I called her assistant. I said, "Is there any way Lisa can stop by?" And she said, "Well, it just so happens that something's up with Lisa's leg and she's like a five-minute drive [away] getting a massage, and she can stop by on the way." And so we took these pictures of Lisa and the butlers. It's those moments that make it. They were just so happy. Fabio Lovino/HBO Jason told me that people now offer him piña coladas everywhere he goes. Is anything like that happening to you? On Easter Island! I was shooting a movie with Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich on Easter Island, and you know it's the furthest place you can go in the furthest part of the world. The only people there are tourists, and it's just like this hotel we were all staying in. There was a homemade mimosa bar, and so it was like 10 o'clock in the morning, and this woman walks by and she says, 'I have some lorazepam if you need some,' and just walked away. [Laughs] That will be happening for the rest of your life. And then I went on a Delta flight, and the flight attendant asked what I wanted to drink, and I said, "I'll have a seltzer with some ice," and he says, "I just want to make sure you're living a comfortable life." "Oh, thank you. I'm very comfortable." I did want to touch on that "I just don't think at this age I'm meant to live an uncomfortable life" scene. Did you know when filming it that fans would eventually be quoting it? That moment, when she says, "I don't want to live an uncomfortable life, I don't have the will," that's when you don't really know what's gonna happen to Victoria, this being at the end of her rope and what she's been through. [With] those little lines, we get to bring in the history of person. I had the essential oils and the lotions, and you just see how spoiled she is. But also, you know she's broken. She's kind of a mess, and then on the other side, she gets it together, and she's able to, like, Sherlock Holmes this stuff and get her daughter back. I love Mike White and how he writes women! We're talking about a writer who writes great women, and they're alone. They stand alone in a man's world. I feel so lucky I got to play it. Best of GoldDerby TV Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles dish their 'ride of a lifetime,' stolen jokes, and turning drag 'inside out' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault after New York retrial
Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault in New York, after a sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year. A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for five days in the six-week trial before unanimously voting to convict the disgraced film mogul on one of three counts. The jury found him not guilty of an additional sexual assault charge, and have yet to return a verdict on a charge of rape. The conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles. The trial was based on the testimony of three women - former television production assistant Miriam Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them. On Wednesday, the jury found Weinstein guilty of assaulting Ms Haley, but found him not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola. They have yet to return a verdict on a rape charge involving Ms Mann, and plan to resume deliberations on Thursday. An appeals court overturned Weinstein's previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April, finding the 73-year-old did not receive a fair trial in 2020 because a judge allowed testimony from women who made allegations against him beyond the charges at hand. Weinstein was then indicted on new sexual assault charges in the state in September. In a statement, Weinstein's spokesperson said the trial was "fair until we got to the jury deliberations". "More than one juror had complained that other jurors had preconceived notions and are using their beliefs of Harvey's life as evidence of guilt," the spokesperson said. "We believe there are serious appellate issues and they will be explored." Jury deliberations have been plagued with tensions over the past week. This week, the foreperson accused some jurors of "attacking" other people and trying to change their minds. He said jurors were considering Weinstein's past and other allegations outside the realm of the case in making decisions. There were also allegations that one juror had threatened to fight another juror. In the end, the judge said he would give the jury an instruction about only considering the allegations in the case, and nothing else. Weinstein - who has cancer and diabetes - stayed at Bellevue Hospital rather than Riker's Island jail during the course of the trial. He sat in a wheelchair for the proceedings. 'For the sake of truth': A Weinstein victim's decision to take the stand again Jurors in Harvey Weinstein trial reportedly fighting among themselves Harvey Weinstein begs for earlier retrial for sex crimes Harvey Weinstein timeline: How the scandal has unfolded The retrial in New York centred on two women who brought allegations against Weinstein for his 2020 trial, Ms Mann and Ms Haley. It also included new allegations from Ms Sokola, a Polish former model and actress, who accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 19. The jury on Wednesday found him not guilty in that assault. Reacting to the verdict, Ms Sokola said she was 'relieved that Harvey Weinstein will be held accountable for some of his crimes'. 'Coming forward was the hardest thing I've ever done. I owed it to myself, and to the other women who survived him, to make sure that the world knows what kind of man Harvey Weinstein is. 'Speaking out was an act of power and it allowed me to reclaim the pride and confidence he tried to take from me,' she added in a statement. The three women testified for days about the sexual abuse they alleged they endured at the hands of Weinstein. All three said they met Weinstein when they were young and looking for work opportunities in the entertainment industry. He then forced himself on them during private meetings at hotels and his homes, the women alleged. His legal team argued that his sexual encounters with the women were all consensual and a sort of "friends with benefits" arrangement. Weinstein's attorneys attempted to chip away at the credibility of the women, showing warm messages some of the women exchanged with the film mogul after the alleged assaults. In total, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women. While not all reports resulted in criminal charges, the California conviction means he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison. The decision by his accusers to come forward, and his subsequent conviction in New York, galvanised the #MeToo movement against sex abuse by powerful men. Before the allegations against him emerged, Weinstein and his brother Bob were among Hollywood's ultimate power players. Weinstein co-founded Miramax film studio, whose hits included Shakespeare in Love, which won best picture at the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction. Weinstein has also faced a number of civil lawsuits, including from a group of women who accused him of sexual harassment and rape. The case resulted in a $19m (£14.2) settlement in 2020. Weinstein accuser breaks down under cross-examination in retrial Weinstein used 'unfettered power' to sexually abuse women, rape retrial hears Weinstein begs for leniency as he is jailed for rape 'A hard day' - Ashley Judd on quashed Weinstein conviction
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein convicted in Manhattan sexual assault retrial in split verdict
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been convicted on a sexual assault charge in a split verdict in Manhattan Wednesday, a year after the verdict in his landmark 2020 trial was overturned. Despite tension among jurors, the panel of seven women and five men found Weinstein guilty after five days of deliberation of conducting a criminal sex act regarding former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, but acquitted him on the same charge regarding Polish model and aspiring actress Kaja Sokola. The 73-year-old faces up to 25 years in prison on the charge. Weinstein faced down Haley, Sokola and one-time actress Leslie Mann over the course of the eight-week Manhattan Supreme Court trial. Each took the stand to describe how the 'Pulp Fiction' producer forced himself on them. Mann accused him of raping her in 2013, while Haley and Sokola said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in separate incidents in 2006. The partial verdict Wednesday came after a chaotic day in court, with the jury foreman telling the judge that another juror threatened him, 'I'll meet you outside one day,' and with Weinstein himself admonishing the judge to call a mistrial. The drama in the jury room appears to center on Mann, who testified Weinstein raped her in 2013, but acknowledged she'd maintained a years-long relationship that included consensual sexual encounters. They have not yet reached a verdict on the third-degree rape charge involving Mann. The 6-foot-2 Weinstein, once a towering persona literally and figuratively in Hollywood, sat in a wheelchair throughout the trial. His health has taken a turn for the worse in recent months — he needed emergency heart surgery in September, and he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, according to multiple reports in October. Tensions in the jury room boiled into public view several times. On Wednesday, the foreman recounted fighting in the jury room because he wouldn't budge from his position, and described how another another juror told him, 'I'll meet you outside one day.' The film producer's lawyers demanded a mistrial, with Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala saying, 'There's a crime going on in there, menacing and harassment.' 'This jury is clearly tainted,' Aidala said. 'This is as serious as cancer right now.' Mann and Haley also testified in Weinstein's 2020 trial, which ended in a guilty verdict. But last year, in a bombshell 4-3 decision, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, saying the trial judge should have never allowed other women whose allegations were not included in the charges to testify against him and establish a pattern of predatory behavior. Even though the trial testimony was limited to the three women's allegation, Weinstein's long history of serial sex abuse allegations, and the #MeToo movement that went viral after those allegations became public in October 2017, hung over the proceedings. All three women testified about how they received money from a court-ordered victims' settlement fund through the Weinstein Co. bankruptcy, and spoke about how the news accounts of Weinstein's bad deeds spurred them to come forward. The trial judge, Curtis Farber, instructed jurors that they can't use that information to determine Weinstein had a propensity for sexual assault. Weinstein's lawyers also brought up #MeToo, with defense lawyer Arthur Aidala accusing the women of chasing a payday as the movement picked up steam and seeking out attorneys like prominent sexual assault survivor advocate Gloria Allred, who he described as a 'money lawyer.' The disgraced movie mogul's defense team painted the women as liars who manipulated Weinstein to 'cut the line' in the entertainment industry, then cashed in with big civil lawsuit settlements. Assistant D.A. Nicole Blumberg countered in her closing argument, though, that the accusers stayed silent for years, but found the strength to come forward after news accounts revealed Weinstein's long history as a serial sexual abuser in October 2017. Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year sentence before his 2020 conviction was overturned, is also serving a 16-year term after a Los Angeles jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2022. He has appealed that verdict.
