How I love this old song! Love of this song inspired me to chase up a Mint Julep recipe online and share it with you here........(thankyou to Gourmet Traveller for this one)
MINT JULEP
Serves 1
10 fresh small mint leaves
30 ml sugar syrup
4 dashes Angostura bitters
75 ml bourbon
1 mint sprig, to garnish
To serve: 1 straw (optional)
1 Chill the glass you intend to use for at least 1 hour beforehand.
2 In a bar glass or shaker, add mint leaves, sugar syrup and bitters and gently stir and press the mint with a bar spoon. The idea is to expose the flavour of the mint without opening up its more bitter characteristics. Add the bourbon and stir to combine. (You can leave this mixture to macerate for 30 minutes or more if you prefer a stronger mint flavour.)
3 Pack the chilled glass with crushed ice and strain the mixture into it, then stir thoroughly, churning the liquid through the ice with a long-handled spoon until the outside of the glass is thoroughly frosted. Perfectionists insist on not touching the cold glass with bare hands, and some obsessives even insist on keeping a glove or cloth between warm hands and cold glasses while Juleps are being prepared.
4 Add more crushed ice and bourbon to fill, garnish with a mint sprig and serve with a straw. (The drink can be refrigerated, ready to go, at this stage – only the garnishing should be left to the last minute.)
This is lovely on a hot summer's evening, and is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. Sit back, glass in hand, press play on the song below and imagine you are in the deep South! Ahhhhhh .....
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One Mint Julep" is a rhythm and blues song written by Rudy Toombs that became a hit for The Clovers. It was recorded by Atlantic Records in New York City on December 19, 1951 and released in March of 1952. It was one of the first "drinking songs" to become a hit and one of the first to feature a tenor sax solo. It was an important step in the history of Ahmet Ertegün and Atlantic Records in its quest to become a hot rhythm and blues label. Stylistically the The Clovers were moving away from the sentimental lyrics of the romantic doo-wop group songs and adapting a cooler group style, emphasizing rhythm more, nearing the style of a jump blues combo.
Toombs was hired by Atlantic to write humorous up-tempo rhythm and blues novelty songs. Atlantic wanted material that was true to life but also funny. The humor in this song comes in part from the idea of a young black man getting drunk on mint juleps, thought of as an aristocratic southern white woman's drink.
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