Kentucky Derby

Derby Day was always a big day when I was growing up in Darien, Ct.  There would be a fancy party at the "club" where gorgeous hats floated above a sea of navy blue blazers. 


Of course the drink du jour was the Mint Julep.  If you couldn't be in the grandstands, may as well drink as if you were.

So this is how to make a Mint Julep.


                                      2 cups sugar
                                      2 cups water
                                      Sprigs of fresh mint
                                      Crushed ice
                                      Early Times Kentucky Whiskey
                                      Silver julep cups
              
Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes.
Cool and place in a covered container with half a dozen sprigs of fresh mint, refrigerate overnight,
Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of whiskey.
Stir rapidly with a spoon to frost the outside of the cup.
Garnish with a sprig or two of fresh mint.


During "the most exciting two minutes in sports" over 120,000 mint juleps will be sold at Churchill Downs.

Funny, how the Kentucky Derby would be a childhood memory, but it is. I do my part in keeping the tradition alive.

               
I can smell the mint, my mother's Chanel No. 5, and hear strains of My Old Kentucky Home......


                              HAPPY DERBY DAY!