Mint julep

"The essential mint julep is made with bourbon and mint syrup poured over ice and garnished with a spring of fresh mint. ... Variations abound, some of them so far from the Kentucky julep as to be unrecognizable to traditionalists. On the first Saturday in May, Kentucky Derby day, juleps are served at parties nationwide, yet few people know its history, and even many experienced bartenders do not know has to properly mix this celebrated drink."

"rose, smiling faintly, and went to the table. "Open the whiskey, ," she ordered, "and Ill make you a mint julep. Then you wont seem so stupid to yourself. . . . Look at the mint!"

"... I arose early in the morning and made him a Mint Julep, thinking it would refresh him after the restlessness of the hot night. ... Holding up the cooling beverage, I said to him: "Well, Professor, I have been entertaining you for two weeks on our simple fare; I could do no better, but I should have been glad had it been in my power to have treated you in the old Virginia style. Still, I cannot let you leave Virginia without taking a taste of the old lady, as she was known in ante-bellum days."

"... There are many varieties, such as those composed of , , &c.; but the ingredients of the real mint julep are as follows. I learned how to make them, and succeeded pretty well. Put into a tumbler about a dozen of the tender sprigs of mint, upon them put a spoonful of white sugar, and equal proportions of and , so as to fill it up one-third, or perhaps a little less. Then take rasped or pounded ice, and fill up the tumbler. Epicures rub the lips of the tumbler with a piece of fresh , and the tumbler itself is very often incrusted outside with stalactites of ice. As the ice cools, you drink. ..."

"figures heavily in the experience; the mint julep has become the traditional drink of the and the most celebrated bourbon-based in the world. ... The mint julep had been served at from the beginning, but were not available in the now-famous souvenir glasses until the late 1930s."