Few drinks carry as much ceremony as the mint julep. It's the official drink of the Kentucky Derby, where roughly 120,000 are served across two days. It arrives in a frost-covered metal cup you're not supposed to touch with your warm hand. And it's built on a technique that most people botch — which is exactly why a well-made julep, with or without bourbon, feels like a small miracle.
Here's the julep's two-century story, the frost-and-muddle method that actually matters, and the sparkling version that keeps every bit of the ritual and skips the proof.
A very short history of a very old drink
The julep predates the cocktail as a category. The word traces to the Persian gulab — rosewater — and by the 1700s "julep" meant a sweetened medicinal sip. Americans made it theirs in the early 1800s, swapping in native spearmint and local spirit, and by the time it became the Derby's signature in 1938 it was pure Southern ceremony: silver cups, crushed ice, a mint bouquet you nearly disappear into.
Note what did the defining work across all that history: mint, sugar, ice, and technique. The spirit rode along. Which is why the julep survives the loss of bourbon better than almost any classic — the ritual was never really about the whiskey.
The technique (this is the whole game)
A julep is barely a recipe; it's a method. Get these four things right and it sings:
1. Treat the mint gently. The single most common mistake is shredding it. You want to express the oils, not pulverize the leaf — a firm press against the cup, a gentle stir, done. Over-muddled mint goes bitter and green-tastes the drink. (Same rule as the whole garden-to-glass playbook.)
2. Crushed ice, not cubes. Non-negotiable. Crushed ice is what frosts the cup and dilutes at the right pace. Cubes give you a warm, boozy-tasting (or in our case, flat-tasting) puddle. No crusher? Leftover ice in a clean towel, a rolling pin, ten seconds of aggression.
3. Build it tall and mounded. Pack the crushed ice above the rim into a dome. This is the visual signature and the function — the mound is what your mint bouquet stands up in.
4. The mint bouquet goes at your nose. Here's the secret of the julep experience: you smell mint far more than you taste it. Slap a generous bunch, insert it right where your nose lands, and every sip arrives through a cloud of fresh mint. Aroma is the drink.
The house pour: Sparkling Mint Julep
Our Sparkling Mint Julep honors the method and adds a modern wink — effervescence the classic never had, which makes the mint read even brighter — plus SHAKE Emerald for a green shimmer that suits the mint and carries the lift: ~1mg hemp-derived THC per flavorless dropper, in place of the two-plus ounces of bourbon a traditional julep hides under all that ice.
That swap is quietly perfect for Derby day specifically. Derby is an all-afternoon event — post times stretch for hours, and the julep's dirty secret is that those frosted cups pack a stiff, easy-drinking bourbon pour that sneaks up over a long, hot, hat-wearing afternoon. A dosed version fixes exactly that failure mode: a 2–3mg cup keeps you social from the first race to the last, right in the low-dose range the real-world data calls the enjoyment sweet spot, with onset in minutes so you can pace to the card, and no next-day tax on your Sunday — the trade real-world drinkers keep choosing over the bourbon.
The build (full spec in the recipe):
- Gently press a few mint leaves with sugar/syrup in the bottom of the cup — express, don't shred
- Pack with crushed ice, mounded above the rim
- Add your sparkling base and SHAKE Emerald drops
- Stir briefly to frost the cup
- Plant a generous mint bouquet right at nose height; short straw so your face stays in the mint
Derby-party protocol: it's a mixed, all-day crowd in big hats — batch the mint syrup ahead, set out crushed ice and the sparkling base, and let guests build their own and dose per cup. Everyone gets the frosted-cup ritual; the milligrams stay individual. (Same host logic as the holiday fizz table.)
Mint julep FAQ
What's a mint julep made of? Traditionally bourbon, sugar, water, crushed ice, and lots of mint. The zero-proof version keeps everything but the bourbon — and, honestly, loses almost nothing, because mint and technique were always the stars.
Why is my julep bitter? Over-muddled mint. Press to release the oils; never grind. Bruised gently, mint is sweet and aromatic; shredded, it turns bitter and vegetal.
Do I really need crushed ice? Yes. Crushed ice frosts the cup and controls dilution; cubes give you a flat, warm drink. It's the one non-negotiable of the format.
Why the metal cup? Silver or pewter frosts dramatically and insulates — hold it by the rim or base so your hand doesn't melt the frost. A rocks glass works; you just lose the theater.
How much THC for a Derby afternoon? 2–3mg per cup, spaced across the races. Add ~1mg per SHAKE dropper. State rules on hemp THC vary — the state-by-state legality guide has the current map.
Two hundred years of ceremony, and the mint was the point all along. Pour the Sparkling Mint Julep for your Derby party — big hat encouraged — and watch for the 23rd State recipe book, coming soon, with the whole collection in one place.
