Mint Juleps – The Kentucky Derby – The Brownwood Library
by Mary Stanley
What is the connection between the Mint Julep, The Kentucky Derby and the Library?!
A very important event is coming up in Brownwood – The Kentucky Derby! You say, “Girl…that’s in Louisville, Kentucky, not Brownwood, Texas!” You need to understand the universal popularity of the Derby. The Kentucky Derby on May 4, 2024 will not only be a great race but, “The Social Event ” in Brownwood raising money for the improvement of our public library services. The Kentucky Derby, begun in 1875, is one of the oldest continuously produced sporting events in the US while also being one of the shortest, lasting a mere two minutes though the celebrations begin a day prior. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Derby and the second anniversary of Reading for The Roses fund raiser to support our Public Library.
Why does Brownwood even need a library? Because Brownwood is also in a race. We are in a race to attract and retain businesses to provide economic opportunities to raise the average income of our citizens. Libraries support both social and educational opportunities which atract businesses which offer higher wages as they demand educated and talented employees. The social benefits of a public library are also immeasurable. In an 1889 article titled “The Gospel of Wealth,” steel magnate Andrew Carnegie proclaimed, “establishing a free library in any community that is willing to maintain and develop it” was the best way to invest his money. He believed that the wealthy had a duty to help a man to help himself as his benefactor had done for him. His plan was that the public would take ownership of his investment. He would pay for the physical building, but only if the community agreed to establish the library’s collections and cover its operational costs from the start. For Carnegie, no city and no country could sustain progress without a great public library—not just as a font of knowledge for scholars, but as a creation for and of the people, free and open to all.
For Carnegie it was no exaggeration to say that the public library “outranks any other one thing that a community can do to help its people.” Carnegie supplied money, Brownwood supplied the collection and operational funds. Our original city library building, constructed in 1904, was one of 2,509 funded by Andrew Carnegie. https://www.cardcow.com/images/set590/card00392_fr.jpg His was the immigrant experience. Andrew came to the US from Dunfermilin, Scottland as a 12 year old with his parents to escape poverty. He began his new life in the US as a thirteen year old working as a bobbin boy in a weaving factory. After he arrived in the United States, his only education came from the generosity of a patron who made his library available to local working boys. Carnegie was one of those boys.
Carnegie’s philanthropy brought Brownwood citizens and immigrants alike not only the means for self-education and enlightenment but also the opportunity to understand the history and purpose of our nation’s democracy, to study English, to learn new skills, to exercise the imagination, and to experience the pleasures of contemplation and solitude. Here is a link to reading of Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNEcBFCQAEQ
Today there are no billionaires like Carnegie funding free public access to education and if there are, they haven’t found Brownwood. However, Brownwood has an moral obligation to continue to support it’s library as it promised to do in 1906. A serious matter but also a joyous and creative one.
The public is invited to participate in the second annual fundraiser for the Brownwood Community Library, Reading for The Roses: a Kentucky Derby Party on May 4, 2024, at 3:00, at the Brownwood Coliseum. The success of this event depends on you. The Derby party will include a southern buffet, a jazz band, a derby hat and a bow tie contest, a silent and live auction, as well as big screen TVs to watch The Kentucky Derby. Here is a link to learn more and to buy tickets for this event. https://secure.givelively.org/event/brownwood-library/2024-kentucky-derby-party/kentucky-derby-party-2024
Now pull up a seat and have a refreshing mint julep while you book your ticket for Reading for the Roses. First the why and then the how. So Why??? is the mint julep such an iconic beverage at the Kentucky Derby??? Where did it come from? Julep is an “Arabic word meaning “Rosewater”. The Julep’s origin and first mentions are in ancient medicinal texts “which describe sugar mixed with herbs, spices, and often, a spirit,” explained Jason Foust, Central Regional Ambassador for Angel’s Envy Distillery. This “medicine” made its way to the US, as all things and ideas that traveled the ancient spice routes did, to become the first memorable American cocktail. If you were able to borrow the book, “Imbibe,” by David Wondrich from the library, (I have a copy in my personal library) you would learn that the part of the country you lived in influenced which spirit was used to make juleps or any cocktail. The earliest versions included brandy or cognac derived from grapes, or rum derived from sugar cane. Many early versions didn’t even include mint. When the phylloxera epidemic of 1863 killed all the grapevines in France and most of Europe, bourbon was substituted for cognac. Cognac is distilled grape must. No grapes, no cognac. So whiskey “flowed” down river from Kentucky to the great port of New Orleans and viola, French cognac was replaced with whiskey in the cocktails of the day.
The Julep is the first popular cocktail served with ice. This development coincided with the rise of ice houses and the availability of ice “cubes.” Some versions included using hailstones or ice from frozen lakes. Ice in those days was sold in blocks. the blocks were backed in sawdust or straw and ship by boat, barge or rail. Ice was an extreme luxory. The blocks had to be cut or crushed for specific drinks. Today, modern bars wanting to be “authentic” are equipped with a canvas bag and mallet to crush ice for the Julep. “I assumed that the Lewis bag dated back to the days when block ice was delivered to the bar and bartenders had to break it down into different grades of ice for specific drink preparations,” says Tony Abou-Ganim, an Old Guard cocktail bartender from San Francisco who was one of the leading forces in the craft cocktail revival in the 1990s. He was wrong about the origin of the Lewis Bag. I’ve met him several times at Tales of The Cocktail in New Orleans. I’ve watched him demonstrate the making of these cocktails, “to make a good one (mojito or julep), you needed crushed ice.” Abou-Ganim didn’t have access to crushed ice, so he smashed up ice cubes using a linen napkin and a meat tenderizer. Then, somewhere around 1998-99, an ad caught his eye: “Authentic 1940s Lewis Ice Bag” complete with mallet. He bought one. So did I. I wanted to be authentic too. So, the contemporary icon that is the Lewis bag came about through a uniquely American mix of sales baloney, fake news, aided by a kind of cocktail-world trading of mis-information at events like Tales of The Cocktail held in New Orleans once a year…but I digress. So don’t believe every story you hear, no matter how entertaining, no matter how much you may idolize someone. Do your own library research. Just cause it’s a good story doesn’t make it “history.” There is no Lewis, just the company that created an icon about the time of the ad to replace the meat hammer and towel.
Another interesting Mint Julep observation comes from Chris Morris, Master Distiller at Woodford Reserve, which may also be a good story, “The Mint Julep has a long history, and in the 1800s it was considered a morning drink. People working on horse farms or in the horse-racing industry during this time period might wake up with aches and pains. You didn’t have aspirin and other pain medication in those days, so you would make a Mint Julep; bourbon to soothe your aches and pains, sugar to give you some energy, and mint to help open the eyes!” Yep….medicinal alright!!
Presidential Consumption of mint Juleps –
Although the drink is generally thought to have hit its popular stride in the 1800s, Andrew Jackson’s earliest biographer tells the story that Jackson and a friend “were drinking quantities of mint-julep” while gambling on a cockfight in Nashville in 1795.
Henry Clay, who ran for President three times, introduced the drink to Washington D.C. in 1850. He also represented Kentucky in Congress in various capacities and held various cabinet positions. Seems he represented Kentucky’s bourbons very well!
Theodore Roosevelt, you all know who he was, used mint juleps as an enticement to get his various cabinet members to play tennis with him. He played so much tennis that his cabinet was known as “the tennis cabinet.” Post-match, players were treated with the refreshing beverage, while Teddy “laughed with glee” as he ordered subsequent rounds. Roosevelt’s mint julep recipe used rye whiskey instead of bourbon and also added a dash of brandy to it.
Roosevelt once defended himself against a libelous editorial written by a newspaper owner in Michigan. The gist of the muckraking was that Teddy was a drunk who also swore like a sailor. Teddy personally traveled all the way to Michigan to testify under oath that: “There was a fine bed of mint at the White House. I may have drunk a half dozen mint juleps in a year.” Roosevelt’s lawyer and apparent comedian—James Pound of Detroit—then drew laughs from the packed courtroom when he cross examined his client: “Did you drink them all at one time?” Sadly, some resident White House chickens destroyed Teddy’s famous mint garden during Calvin Coolidge’s term in the 1920s.
The Mint Julep became the official drink of the Kentucky Derby in 1939 when the race track realized that they could make a lot of money selling decorated cups containing the drink to the spectators at the Derby. Today, roughly 120,000 Mint Juleps are served over the two-day period of the Kentucky Derby weekend. This includes more than 10,000 bottles of bourbon, 1,000 pounds of fresh mint, and 60,000 pounds of ice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HI2HBh89Uw
The Clovers – One Mint Julep (Remastered) (Audio)
Teddy’s Mint Julep recipe
Yield: 1 cocktail
Ingredients
10 to 12 fresh mint leaves
1/2 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. American rye whiskey (I prefer Woodford Reserve Rye)
1/4 oz. brandy
Crushed ice
Directions
- In a bar mixing glass, muddle mint into the syrup with a wooden muddler.
- Add the rye and brandy and ice and stir until cold and well diluted.
- Serve in a pewter or glass cup with the crushed ice.
- Garnish with a mint sprig dusted with powdered sugar and a straw, of course.
Chef Secret:
- Woodford Reserve Rye Kentucky is made in the traditional style of Kentucky Ryes delivering bold flavors of pepper and tobacco with a long fruit and sweetly spiced finish. Woodford Reserve won the Gold Medal San Francisco World Spirits award in 2016. It’s pretty darn good and not too expensive.
- What is simple syrup? Combine 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Simple Syrup will keep in the refrigerator for 1 month.
Classic Mint Julep
2 oz. Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 oz. simple syrup
3 Fresh Mint Leaves
Crushed Ice
Instructions
Step 1
Crush the mint leaves and rub them inside the glass. This releases the mint oil.
Step 2
To the same glass, add simple syrup, bourbon, and crushed ice.
Step 3
Stir.
Step 4
Garnish with more ice, fresh mint, and powdered sugar.
The Cognac Mint Julep
- and 8 mint sprigs and the sugar syrup to a mixing glass. Muddle
- Add crushed ice and 2 oz your favorite cognac – We like Pierre Ferrand
- Shake until frosted, then pour the cocktail into a rocks glass.
- Garnish with a mint sprig.
One Last thing – the glass – it’s not glass, it’s supposed to be a silver cup, but poor folk make do with aluminum. A silver cup is still used now as it was back in the early 1800s because it is the silver metal that allows ice to form on the outside of the cup. The proper etiquette for drinking a mint julep is to hold the cup by either the band on the base or top lip ( which is why it was designed with a top band and a base) so that your hand does not warm the cup.
Now you know the reasons why, the how and the where. And for your mom’s sake drink well but read more!!
Mary Stanley
Mary Stanley is the owner, wine buyer, pasta maker, gelato artisan, and chocolatier for the Turtle Restaurant, Gelateria, and Enoteca. She crafts well over sixty different flavors of gelato and sorbetto to fill the ten pans of the gelateria’s gelato case.
She has studied chocolate making with master chocolatier Jean-Pierre Wybauw, and the art of entremets with Spanish master Ramon Morato. Mary earned diplomas in Artisan Pasta and Breads from Manuelina Culinary in Brescia, Italy. The Turtle Gelateria was a finalist in the North American Stage of the Gelato World Tour, and a participant in the finals held in Rimini, Italy in 2014. In 2018 she won a silver medal for her flavor Hill Country Lemon Lavender at Gelato Festival, Dallas.
Mary is T Certified in Tequila from the Consejo Regulador Del Tequila, Mexico. She has a WSET Level 2 Award with Distinction in Spirits. She received a partnership award from the wine region Rioja DOCa (Qualified Designation of Origin), Spain in 2014. The Turtle Restaurant wine list received an award of distinction from Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2010. The list also received two stars from World of Fine Wine Magazine, London every year since 2017, winning “Best Value Wine List in the World” in 2022.
She is left-handed and has a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Illinois and is a member of Les Dames D’Escoffier, Austin Chapter and the Unites States Bartenders Guild Austin, Chapter. She is curious.
Follow along as Mary periodically writes about:
Connections – Food – Life – History