Photo by Maggie Pope
It may be the official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby, but the boozy mint julep didn’t originate in Kentucky — and it wasn’t always served with bourbon.
The drink in the iconic silver cup, frosted on the outside and filled with mint, powdered sugar, crushed ice, and spirits, has roots in Virginia. The history goes that juleps were known for their medicinal benefits and served at breakfast with brandy or rum.
Today, Julep’s New Southern Cuisine Bar Manager Ty Cataneo honors that history with the Captain Marryat. A British captain, Marryat wrote about mint juleps in 1840 with peach and apple brandy. “The bourbon julep is a pretty stiff drink,” Cataneo says. “The Captain is a little more approachable.”
Of course, Julep’s offers the classic as well — they call it The Virginian — plus a handful of other interpretations. Altogether, Cataneo says juleps are by far the restaurant’s most popular cocktail: “We sure do go through a lot of crushed ice.”
