The Official Mint Julep of the Kentucky Derby

Every year the first Saturday in May is reserved for the Running of the Roses, that is the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and the official drink of the Derby is the Mint Julep.

Derby weekend includes the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Over that weekend Churchill Downs will empty more than 10,000 bottles of Old Forester bourbon to make over 120,000 Mint Juleps.

The Old Forester recipe starts with a simple syrup: boil 2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of water for 5 minutes, then cool it in an airtight container with a few sprigs of fresh mint thrown in.

When it is time to build the drink, use a highball or a tall Mint Julep cup, fill it with crushed ice, and add one ounce of the mint syrup and two ounces of your favourite bourbon. Churchill Downs is partial to Old Forester.

Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint, get your Derby Day game face on, and enjoy a taste of the south.

Crushed ice is doing most of the work here, so it is worth making properly. Our chilling collection covers ice moulds and buckets, and highball glasses will stand in perfectly well if you do not own julep cups.