The mint julep is the most Southern of drinks and perhaps the least likely way to dress up a good bourbon like Woodford Reserve.
“I prefer mine on the rocks,” said Woodford’s master distiller Chris Morris.
But Kentucky Derby Day, May 6, is almost upon us, and the Derby and the julep have become intimately entwined in the collective mind. The julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby, and each year almost 120,000 are sold over the Derby's two-day weekend at the Churchill Downs racetrack, in Louisville.
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Since 1999, Woodford Reserve has been the official bourbon of the storied Derby, and for the past 12 years, the company has created a special julep recipe to help promote its $1,000 Mint Julep program. (The company sells silver and gold mint julep cups to raise money for charity.)
This year’s recipe celebrates the British origins of the race, which Morris described during a recent visit to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The founder of Churchill Downs, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., was concerned about the safety of “open racing” in America, often staged in the middle of public thoroughfares, said Morris, and traveled to England to observe their more civilized traditions.
In 1873, he returned from abroad with the idea of building a course in Louisville, Ky., and creating a system of parimutuel betting.
According to Britannica.com, “In 1874 (Clark) established a racetrack on land owned by his uncles, John and Henry Churchill, for whom the track would eventually be named. The track officially opened on May 17, 1875, and the first Derby (one of four races at the track that day) was won by Aristides.”
Clark’s venture made the race safe for women to attend, it established the idea of a race as a dress-up affair, worthy of high-class participation, and it made the horses run in a loop, so attendees could watch the start and the finish.
On the whole (though some would argue to the contrary), Clark made racing safer and cleaner.
“It wasn’t an instant hit,” said Morris. “It wasn’t really until turn of the century that it gained the stature it has today.”
In honor of the British influence on the Derby’s founder, Morris’ 2017 julep recipe incorporates a few Anglophilic ingredients, such as elderflower and Pimm’s liqueurs and Earl Grey tea-infused bitters.
The 2017 Woodford Reserve $1,000 Mint Julep
Fresh mint leaves
1.5 ounces Woodford Reserve bourbon
1/2 ounce simple sugar
1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur
1/4 ounce Pimm’s
Dash of Earl Grey bitters
Crushed ice
Scrub the inside of a julep cup with two mint leaves and drop them inside. Add the bourbon, sugar, liqueurs and bitters and pack the cup with crushed ice. Stir. Top the cup with additional ice and add a sprig of mint as a garnish. Morris also sprinkled some dried cornflower blossoms on top and added a sprig of baby’s breath to create a more photogenic drink.
Hint: Morris said avoid adding too much mint to the julep, and be sure to use crushed ice; cubed ice won’t do. Also, he said, the julep must be sipped through a straw.
The great Southern novelist Walker Percy, whose mint julep recipe has been reprinted many times, said it is critical to crush the ice quickly so that it remains dry. He suggests using a towel and a wooden mallet. Morris brought a cloth bag for the same purpose.
What to do with this drink in hand? Wait for the next race, and, writes Percy, “settle back in your chair for half an hour of cumulative bliss.”
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