Mint Julep

The taste of the Kentucky Derby: bourbon and mint over a mountain of crushed ice, sweating in a silver cup. Ingredients: Kentucky bourbon, fresh mint leaves, sugar or syrup, crushed ice — and, traditionally, a silver or pewter julep cup. Method: 1) Gently muddle mint with sugar in the cup — bruise, don't tear. 2) Add bourbon and fill the cup heaped with crushed ice. 3) Stir until the cup frosts, then crown with a fragrant bouquet of mint and a short straw, so your nose is in the mint as you sip. The experience: arctic-cold, bracingly minty, with bourbon's caramel warmth rising underneath. History: juleps were iced southern refreshers long before they met the racetrack; the Mint Julep has been the Kentucky Derby's signature drink since 1939, with well over a hundred thousand served across Derby weekend at Churchill Downs.