The History of the Mint Julep

Is there a recipe you would brawl over? A cherished tradition you would provoke the masses for? A way of doing things that, if someone departed from it, would make you shake a fist at your own mother?

I think we all have at least one of those.

And one of the most popular, rage-inducing, passionately cherished, and dearly held Southern staples that evokes such emotion is none other than the classic Mint Julep.

That’s right, folks: take a seat and lend me your eyeballs as I take you on a brief journey through the famed cocktail, and hopefully share a thing or two you didn’t know about it before.

Hot Shots

• George Washington may have enjoyed them
• It’s a smash hit at the Kentucky Derby
• Its roots stretch back over 1,000 years
• Theodore Roosevelt once publicly claimed he failed to finish a Mint Julep

A Little History Lesson

The inception of the Mint Julep is a notorious fire starter, as some date the earliest mentions anywhere from 900 A.D. (perhaps even earlier) to the early 18th century. The Mint Julep’s first use was purely medicinal in the pre–Civil War era, specifically in Virginia.

It was used to settle upset stomachs and also acted as an “antifogmatic,” meaning something taken first thing in the morning to stave off illness.

Also useful if you have a bad case of the Mondays, amirite?

The earliest ancestor of the Mint Julep was merely rum, water, and sugar. Mint wasn’t added for quite some time, but it was later found to help the rum go easy on the stomach.

It wasn’t until the elixir traveled from the northern to the southern United States, around the early 1800s, that the recipe started to get a bit more specific—especially with the new preference for bourbon over rum as the base of the cocktail.

For a while, the base liquor of the Mint Julep varied among rum, whiskey, and even brandy. But there is a particularly interesting story as to how bourbon became the preferred base.

In 1791, an excise tax (better known as the Whiskey Tax) was established to help pay the massive debts incurred by the American Revolution, and Americans…were not happy.

Americans felt betrayed by such a tax under the new administration of one President George Washington—I’m guessing you’ve heard of him. And, in true American fashion, a rebellion against the tax took place from 1791 to 1794.

However, word started to spread in the North that the tax was not as tightly enforced in the South (and was almost wholly ignored), especially in Kentucky.

A great migration of sorts ensued, in which thousands of farmers came to settle on free land and plant rye to make and enjoy whiskey. Free land and no tax on whiskey? Sign me up!

They brought their favorite julep recipes along with them, leading to more rye whiskey being used in the Mint Julep.

Brandy was still probably preferred, but it was more expensive and less plentiful than rye. People made do with what they had, and I’m sure there were many who preferred the new spirit.

That switch from brandy to rye only accelerated during the phylloxera epidemic of the mid-1800s.

To save you the Google search: it was essentially irritating-ass bugs that ate A LOT of the grapevines needed to make wine, cognac, and the like. Brandy was hard to find in France, and even more so across the Atlantic.

This epidemic infected France’s grapevines and made cognac production next to impossible. It also didn’t help that the pesky Whiskey Tax applied to American-made brandy, too, which made the switch to bourbon in the South a no-brainer at the time.

And then there was that time the government tried to tell us we all had a drinking problem, and that making us quit cold turkey was definitely the best move.

Yep, the 18th Amendment made alcohol production and consumption illegal in almost all cases. Growing rye would look suspicious, but corn…corn had all kinds of uses.

Corn can feed people, livestock, dragons…probably. But did you know that, legally speaking, bourbon whiskey has to contain at least 51% corn?

That, in part, led to corn becoming the supreme crop and converted the non-believing Julep junkies to, you guessed it, bourbon.

A Decline in Popularity

It’s hard to offer up one specific recipe for the Mint Julep, as there are, literally, so many. There are infinite rules that some people hold as holy as the Bible, while others insist on a remix of an old classic.

To muddle the mint, or let it sit for 15 minutes? To serve in a pewter cup or an icy glass? Shaved ice or crushed? My God, what is the truth?!

The Mint Julep is said to be properly enjoyed only if you have time to wait for its preparation. It was not meant for a patron in a hurry, as the preparation and consumption of the Mint Julep are meant to be sacred.

Why, ensuring the freshness of the mint, allowing your sugar proper time to dissolve, and making sure the cup you sip from is as icy as earthly possible are no small feats.

City slickers were not welcome to behold the majesty of the Mint Julep. This is a drink for the more relaxed Southern lifestyle.

Unfortunately, this is why the Mint Julep fell out of popularity around the mid-1900s. As the world got busier, customers got antsier, and they just didn’t have the time or patience for the Mint Julep’s care and preparation.

The Mint Julep was also considered a drink solely for the elite, as it was offered only at expensive hotel bars after the Civil War.

There was also the issue of crushed ice being a CRUCIAL component of the drink, and ice was considered an elusive and expensive luxury at the time.

It was also basically considered LAW to drink it from a silver cup so that you could see the frostiness of the drink on the outside. And come on, who had money lying around for a silver-plated cup during the Great Depression?

The Forgotten Bartenders

Now, we can’t talk about the famed Mint Julep without talking about the bartenders who made it famous. Many enslaved and free Black people took up trades in the hospitality industry to obtain or safeguard their freedom.

Naturally, many of them became bartenders. Cato Alexander, Tom Bullock, and John Dabney are just three of the many 19th-century bartenders who brought cocktails, including the Mint Julep, to fame.

John Dabney

John Dabney was an enslaved man who worked at the Sweet Springs Resort in West Virginia. During his time there, he served a famous cocktail called the Julep à la Dabney. Kind of catchy, right? His cocktail became a full-blown tourist attraction in the 1860s.

The Julep à la Dabney was served in a MASSIVE tin bucket with bourbon, mint, and sugar, stuffed with almost a gallon of ice and topped with several layers of mint and fruit. The bucket itself sat in a massive amount of ice to ensure that it never melted.

This beverage was meant to serve multiple people, and patrons from far and wide came to see what all the fuss was about.

One of those patrons was none other than Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. I mean, come on, how many princes do YOU know?

With the money he earned bartending, Dabney was able to buy freedom for himself and his wife. Wait, that’s a prince and a happy ending in one story—did I just write a Disney movie?

Cato Alexander

Cato Alexander was a formerly enslaved man who opened a bar in New York that was famous for his food and drink mixes.

Some historians believe Cato created the Mint Julep, as he was known for creating all sorts of wacky cocktails that became popular all over the U.S., including his South Carolina Milk Punch and Virginia Eggnog.

One of Cato’s famed regulars was one George Washington, who raved about Cato’s impeccable service, food, and atmospheric flourish.

Cato was known to brag about this…quite often. I’d have a thing or two to brag about myself if I’d had the pleasure of serving the first President of the United States.

Tom Bullock

Tom Bullock was a bartender at the St. Louis Country Club and was the first Black man to write and publish a mixology book.

As with Cato Alexander, some historians also credit Tom Bullock with creating the Mint Julep, as his version of the cocktail was said to be the most undeniable and irresistible around.

So much so that it became evidence in a libel case brought by one Colonel Theodore Roosevelt against the media.

A KNOWN lover of Mint Juleps, Roosevelt was furious because the media repeatedly called him a drunk who couldn’t keep it together. He denied all of these allegations, naturally, even going so far as to say that he had never been intoxicated in his life.

The proof? Roosevelt claimed that he once ordered a Mint Julep prepared by Tom Bullock and didn’t finish it.

However, a local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, called Roosevelt a liar, because it was impossible not to finish a cocktail crafted by the incomparable Tom Bullock. They stated:

“Who was ever known to drink just a part of one of Tom’s [cocktails]…Are the Colonel’s powers of self-restraint altogether transcendent? Have we found the living superman at last?”

Whoa, man. Talk about shots fired. But hey, a man who can be shot while giving a speech and just keep on talking is as close to Superman as I’ve seen.

The Kentucky Derby

No doubt you’ve heard of the one and only Kentucky Derby, the annual horse race held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, since 1875. But did you know that the Mint Julep has been the staple drink of the event since 1938?

Rumor has it that it all started in 1877, when famed Polish actress Helena Modjeska, an esteemed guest of the owner, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., was offered a Mint Julep meant to be passed around among the guests.

But she loved the drink so much that she kept the whole thing to herself. She even ordered two more to boot!

It’s said that soon after making the Mint Julep the staple beverage, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. grew mint around the racetrack to ensure that the drinks and good times would never stop flowing.

Today, an estimated 120,000 Mint Juleps are sold each year at the Kentucky Derby. That’s roughly 2,000 pounds of mint, 60,000 pounds of ice, and 10,000 bottles of Old Forester bourbon mix. Talk about throwing a party you won’t forget!

There is also a specialty Mint Julep sold in Kentucky for the low, low price of $1,000+ a glass. Don’t be too alarmed, though.

The specialty ingredients for that cocktail include mint from Ireland, ice from the Bavarian Alps, and sugar flown in first-class from Australia. The proceeds from these epic libations are donated to charities shortly after the end of the Derby.

Not to mention that the glorious concoction is served in a silver-plated cup and slurped through a golden straw. Swanky!

Love Letters to the Mint Julep

Over the years, there have been many songs, poems, and passionate declarations of love for the Mint Julep. Some of the most famous include a poem by J. Soule Smith, a song made famous by Ray Charles, and a letter written by a lieutenant general responding to someone who requested his Mint Julep recipe.

J. Soule Smith was a Freemason and law professor of the 1800s who wrote many articles and publications. One of the most famous is a poem titled “The Mint Julep.” A small portion reads:

“Then comes the zenith of man’s pleasure. Then comes the julep—the mint julep. Who has not tasted one has lived in vain… It is the very dream of drinks, the vision of sweet quaffings.”

If that doesn’t make your mouth water, I just don’t know what will!

Anyone breathing knows famous singer, pianist, and songwriter Ray Charles. In 1961, he covered an already popular song, “One Mint Julep,” and knocked it out of the park and right to the top of the R&B charts.

A little snippet of the tune goes something like:

Now I don’t want to bore you with my troubles, but from now on I’ll be thinking double. I’m through with flirtin’ and drinkin’ whiskey. I got six extra children from a-getting frisky. A Mint Julep…was the cause of it all.

I’ll have what he’s having, and make it a double!

And lastly, Lieutenant General S.B. Buckner Jr. received a letter from General William D. Connor asking him how to make a Mint Julep. Buckner Jr. responded:

“A mint julep is not the product of a FORMULA. It is a CEREMONY and must be performed by a gentleman possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the ingredients, and a proper appreciation of the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice, a statistician, nor a Yankee.”

Whoops, I guess that counts me out, then!

As you marinate on the details here, why not kick back, relax under the warm coat of the sun, and get yourself better acquainted with a Mint Julep?

Get real up close and personal.

Take the time to admire the sweet, spicy, and icy swirl of it on your tongue, and sit with the journey this cocktail took from lands and times unknown to the frosty cup in your hand.

Consume this piece of history. Revel in this portion of American tradition. Commemorate a fragment of time that will never be forgotten. Cheers, friend.

Mint Julep Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 mint leaves
• ¼ ounce simple syrup
• 2 ounces bourbon
• Crushed ice
• Garnish: mint sprig

Preparation

1. In a julep cup or rocks glass, lightly muddle the mint leaves in the simple syrup.
2. Add the bourbon, then pack the glass tightly with crushed ice.
3. Stir until the cup is frosted on the outside.
4. Top with more crushed ice to form an ice dome, and garnish with a mint sprig.
5. Enjoy. Yes, this is a requirement.