I thought it would be fun to make some cocktails this summer and the natural progression was to then look up their origins and write a blog post! Since I’m short on time I’ll just write about one today, the mint julep, which has quite a long history.
The word julep comes orginally from a Persian word meaning rosewater. In a broad sense juleps are sweet drinks often used as a vehicle for medicine. The mint julep is composed of bourbon, mint leaves, sugar (or simple syrup), and crushed ice.
The mint julep seems to have originated in Virginia and was not necessarily made with bourbon, but instead brandy, rum, or gin. Ice is now considered a crucial ingredient but in the earliest days of the mint julep ice was not readily available.
Some of the earliest references to the mint julep, according to Wikipedia and Liquor.com are found in
- The Candidate, a satirical play by Robert Munford (1770)
- “A Short Poem on Hunting” published in the Williamsford Virginia Gazette (1770)
- A prescription drink in Medical communications (1784)
- A description by Rev. Harry Toulmin (1793)
- A book by John Davis (1803)
- A letter by a slave-based farm owner (1803)
- A menu at White Sulfur Springs resort in West Virginia (1816)
Since 1938 the mint julep has been the official drink of the Kentucky Derby (which was itself inaugurated in 1875).
It’s been ages since I read Gone with the Wind, but am I remembering right that they drank mint juleps in that story?
Sounds plausible! I haven’t read it in ages either.