Keep Calm and Julep On
The Derby Holiday
Dedicated to all the non-Kentuckians I have educated about the fact that The First Saturday of May is a holiday….
First off: the question “when is the Kentucky Derby?” has a simple answer. It is always, forever and ever amen, the first Saturday of May. So it can be any number on the calendar of May as long as that number is one through seven. If someone says to you the Derby is on May 8th, or 15th or something else ridiculous, you now know what to say to that.
This year it’s on May 4th, for the record.
Secondly: In this substack, I will not be addressing the ongoing animal welfare issues raised by horse racing. I don’t have an answer other than, being the Kentuckian that I am, horses are part and parcel of my upbringing and the industry built around them has employed thousands of people and will continue to do so whether they race the animals or not. We shall leave the ethics of the sport to someone who has more knowledge about that than I. AND THIS from the mom of a veterinarian who…well, anyways. Onward.
Finally: as you might suspect, this is Yet Another Bourbon Column so if that makes you sad, skip it.
If not, let’s make a few drinks, shall we?
During the first weekend of May, Churchill Downs, which is home to the Derby, the Oaks and something called “Thurby” will prepare and sell upwards of 130,000 mint juleps. Oh! And you might not know this: most Louisville residents do not attend the Derby. Frankly, it’s expensive and kind of a zoo. It sells out years in advance. Most everybody has already done the cheap seats option in the infield. More on this later. Up until about 10 years ago, “townie day” was the Friday before, when the Kentucky Oaks was run. The Oaks is a stakes race that is also called Derby for fillies (a.k.a. all girl horses). Now that the Oaks day is almost as crowded and expensive as Derby day, many natives hit the track on Thursday before, hence the “Thurby” designation.
And, of course, now there’s serious money to be made going Air BNB with your own house and getting the hell out of town that weekend.
I’ve gone to the Derby via the infield twice, while I was a student at the University of Louisville, which is located about eight blocks away from the track. It’s a Serious Rite of Passage at U of L. I highly recommend it. I think we paid $50 to get in, and there were no seating options other than what you could carry on your back vis a vis lawn chairs. When I went, you did things like pour your bourbon into zip lock bags and bury them under a pile of chicken in a KFC bucket since you are technically not allowed to bring your own liquor in. Not sure how that works these days but I know my kids have gone and said they were able to use a few of mom and dad’s tricks.
Crowe Tradition. We’re very proud.
NOW there are SEATS and they charge a lot for them right there in the infield.
Click here for a full run down of pricing and seating options from the local newspaper.
Moving up from the infield, you can get Grandstand seats. These are first-come-first-served chairs and benches but mostly standing that actually puts you pretty darn close the action. Oh, did I mention that if you’re there to watch horse racing, you should avoid the infield? You might feel the ground rumble a few times if you’re in line for the porta-potties, or possibly a drink because you either ran out of your own or weren’t as wily as the Crowes hiding it on your way in, but mostly you’re there to party.
Private boxes are located a level up from that, and are owned by families and businesses. If you own one, you must populate it during the racing calendar so it’s not a bad investment for a business as those tickets (not the Derby weekend) are reasonable and can be given out to clients and whatnot. Then there’s Millionaire’s Row at the top, private, air conditioned, food and drinks included. Good luck with that. And if you do go, be sure to invite me, your favorite booze writer and relocated Kentuckian, okay?
However, whether you’re a Millionaire or an infield partier, you can always imbibe the Official Drink of the Event: the Mint Julep because those suckers are, as they say, ubiquitous that weekend.
The drink itself originated in Virginia (also known as a horsey state). It was primarily a rum, or brandy, or in some cases, gin drink, infused with sweet syrup and mint and was meant as medicinal or as a morning jolt since Starbucks wasn’t around to satisfy that need. In John Davis’s 1803 book Travels of Four and a Half Years in the United States of America, a mint julep was called a “dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.”
And what’s up with that word “julep?” It derives from the ancient Persian gulab, which is a sort of sweetened rosewater. If you’ve ever had gulab jamun at an Indian restaurant, that’s similar. In classical Arabic, the word became julab, which became the Latin julapium.
Bourbon became associated with the drink thanks to the cost of the other ingredients. Bourbon was a local, (at the time) cheap option. And we are all so much better for it, are we not? As of 1938, it was named the Official Drink of the Run for the Roses, and if you can picture the beer and hot dog hawkers at a baseball game, you have a good idea of how you can get one that weekend at the track—minus the tossing of them, naturally.
Of course, there is an Official Bourbon of The Derby. It’s Woodford Reserve. Woodford is a “high rye” style of bourbon that has more of a bite to it, thanks to the recipe that is by definition 70% corn (or it’s not a bourbon, remember?) and more rye than barley in the remaining recipe and mash.
Woodford says that the entirety of the whiskey in its Woodford’s Master’s Collection is the product of pot distillation. For its main portfolio, pot-distilled whiskey is blended with column-distilled whiskey produced at the Brown-Forman Distillery in Louisville, Ky.
By way of explanation as to why this matters, pot stills, the oldest style, are believed to create more flavorful spirits because the process reuses small, highly concentrated quantities of alcoholic liquid called “heads” and “tails.” Column stills, also known as Coffey or continuous stills, run continuously, making them more cost-efficient. I’ve been privy to plenty of distilleries in an attempt to understand both of these processes. I recommend that we all consider it “magic” and simply enjoy the end results.
At The Derby, your julep is served in one of the Official Derby Glasses with the Official Derby Art on it for that year. I collect these. I have them going back into the 50’s, and the ones where I actually drank out of them at The Event Itself have many memories.
I’ve observed The Derby from three of the four available areas. I own one really expensive hat and four not-so-much (fyi you don’t need a hat in the infield but it’s fun to get creative with them). I can and will say with one-hundred-percent certainty that this is an event that could fill out a bucket list for most anyone if attending fancy parties in hats while drinking a lot of bourbon, during which it could rain as if the heavens had opened up or be ninety degrees and require sun screen, then put this one on yours.
Now about that drink.
It’s an easy one, but one that is better the purer your ingredients which is to say get some fresh mint and make your own simple syrup, crush some ice and read on.
1. Wash hands in mint-scented soap
2. Pour your favorite Kentucky bourbon in a glass. This year, for me, it’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith in honor of my New Fav with shout out to Russ, Himself.
3. Drink.
Oh hang on. Did I say that out loud? Sorry.
The ACTUAL recipe (for a drink that I do enjoy once a year) is as follows:
· 2 ounces high-proof bourbon
· .5 ounces simple syrup
· A handful of fresh mint
· Crushed ice
Muddle the mint in the bottom of a highball glass to release the essential oils. Add the rest of the ingredients. Garnish with a fresh sprig of mint. Enjoy.
Technically, if we’re being purists, the drink should be served in a silver or pewter glass, and only held around the rim or at the bottom of the thing, so that the frostiness that forms on the cup isn’t adulterated. If you hit it big on one of the races prior to the Derby, which is now the 10th race, used to be the 8th race of the day, be sure and blow some of it on the $1000 solid silver cup offering from Woodford or (even better) the $2000 gold cup option. Yes. These are real things.
Ok, listen, I realize that there are a lot of not great traditions surrounding this event, such as the singing of a a song called My Old Kentucky Home. And of course there is that whole horse-racing-is-bad-on-many-levels issue. I won’t argue any of this with you.
However, the celebration of the First Saturday in May with sickly sweet bourbon drinks, hats, and gambling is one I have imported to three different countries. The Derby party I helped throw in Istanbul was even a successful fund raiser for an animal shelter. We celebrated in England by attending the original Derby (pronounced “Darby”) complete with a really dangerous picnic of fresh strawberries and champagne. In Japan we had to kind of bootleg the booze into town since it’s so expensive there but we had a fun time anyway.
If you ever have an excuse to be in Louisville the (now two) week(s) leading up to the Derby, do so. There is something fun to do every single day including a balloon race, a steamboat race on the Ohio River, a mini marathon, outdoor concerts, fireworks, and one of my favorite Derby week traditions, the Chuck Wagon. These pop up OG food trucks serve bbq and burgoo—a stew with lots of icky stuff in it that is, in a word, delicious to go with your lightly sweetened tea.
So that’s your Derby primer. Get a great hat and a spiffy spring dress with some matching pastel heels. Bring plenty of money for betting and bourbon. You might need a rain parka and umbrella, or you might need sunscreen and sun glasses. Regardless, you will have an amazing time. It’s pretty much guaranteed.
Now….for a couple of reviews.
I listened to the sequel to a book I thoroughly enjoyed, Dead Sound, called Dead Keen. If you groove on JD Robb style romantic suspense, these books will be right up your listening alley. Lisa Kay does a great job bringing the main characters to life and their relationship solidification in book 2 (Dead Keen) is both warmly spicy and realistic, given their individual traumas. The mystery they’re dealing with in book 2 didn’t interest me as much as the first one but I am now officially attached to these 2 characters and look forward to their future adventures, via Ms. Eden’s and Ms. Kay’s audio partnership.
4.5 thumbs up!
I’m slogging** my way through book 5 of the ACOTAR series on audio. I am similarly attached to various characters of this wildly successful and popular hot fairy series and definitely get its appeal. I will say this one negative thing because I don’t want to get piled on. I would appreciate if a thesaurus search for the words “smirk” and “snarl” was something that had been done prior to publishing but hey, what do I know?
3.5 thumbs for the book I just finished the one with “Mists” in the title (I lose track) and so far 3.75 thumbs for the one with Cassian and Nesta. 4 thumbs for the potential heat that I feel coming from 800 hot male fairy miles away. Not sure if I will continue this, however. Any recommendations regarding the adjoining series is welcome but I think I’m done.
**I am not slogging I am enjoying but I find myself skipping ahead at times.
Julep on, peeps!
xoxo
Liz
p.s. I have a Derby and specifically bourbon-based super steamy romance if you are of a mind…
pps. I myself will be in town. Mostly searching for a sight of my team’s new basketball coach, or perhaps for the opportunity of a selfie with a few of my fav Louisville twitter celebs/ buddies.