Love ‘em or hate ‘em? In Louisville, you have to pick one extreme on the topic of mint juleps. If you love ‘em, they’ll pretty much drop off the radar completely before coming back each spring, pre-Derby, giving you a chance to miss them, binge for a short time, and then recover for 10 or 11 months. If you hate ‘em, the damned things just keep coming back and everyone makes a big hullaballoo about their – uh – unique attributes.
Either way, you do have to admit that the traditional silver mint julep cups are striking. Non-drinkers collect them just as often as drinkers, for use as flower vases and jewelry holders. As family heirlooms, they’re especially prized around here, especially when they are engraved.
The Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, having declared April “Mint Julep Month,” is holding a contest in which you could win one of two sets of six personalized sterling silver mint julep cups.
If all this julep talk is making you thirsty, you need the site’s list of the best places in Louisville to get a mint julep. Or get to practicing for out-of-town Derby visitors and make your own juleps. And here is the recipe to make the classic Early Times mint julep served at Churchill Downs.
Photo: Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau
