The Mint Julep may be the official, longstanding classic Kentucky drink, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only Kentucky drink. And let’s keep it real, a cocktail of water and bourbon and a hint of mint and sugar might not tickle everyone’s fancy. Here’s 4 mint julep alternatives to add to your Derby menu so everyone can be in on the fun!
Bourbon-Free Virgin Mint julep
There’s not a lot of fan fare to the mint julep it’s just bourbon, mint, water, and sugar. The flavor comes from the bourbon and there’s not really a suitable substitute. However, for a similar look, go for bourbon-free, sober-friendly, mint julep alternatives like this one. That way, those who choose sobriety, expectant moms, and the youth can join the festivities.
Mint, muddled but not bruised
Ginger ale
Splash of Water
Simple syrup
Be sure to use crushed ice in a mint julep cup. I found these party approved disposable ones.
Kentucky Mule
As far as mint julep alternatives go, I actually prefer this drink over the mint julep and the Moscow Mule. Something about that ginger beer that makes the flavors pop. And keeping with the same naming convention (Capitol city + equine species) I propose we rename this cocktail the Frankfort Thoroughbred. But no one will know what you’re talking about if you order that.
2 ounces bourbon
1/2-ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
Ginger beer, to top
Garnish: mint sprig
Be sure to use crushed ice in a copper cup.
Bourbon & Cherry Coke
This is my go-to bar drink, especially in the fall. I get so annoyed when the bartender responds, “bUt eW dOnT hAvE cHeRrY CoKe.” If you have coke and grenadine (and what kind of bar are you running if you don’t) you have cherry coke. Let’s problem solve shall we?
2 ounces bourbon
Coke
Grenadine
Bourbon Slush
Oh yeah, you can have a touch of the tropics in the Bluegrass or a taste of home in the tropics.
1 can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
10 oz chilled pineapple juice
1 cup bourbon
20 oz chilled ginger ale
Mix frozen concentrates, pineapple juice, & bourbon in a blender. Slowly mix in ginger ale until a drinkable consistency. Pour in a tumbler to drink.
The Kentucky Derby is so much more than a two-minute horses race during the first Saturday of May. It’s the season opener for all social events coming out of an icy, dreary winter. It’s a celebration of all things Kentucky. We show that celebration is best through our Kentucky Derby menu!
First things first, you don’t have to Kentucky before Derby. There’s only one that we acknowledge. We already know. Second, the festivities start the last Saturday of April with Thunder Over Louisville — an aviation Air Show followed by spectacular fireworks that fill the airspace with uproarious sound. We fill the week (sometimes two weeks) between with the Pegasus Parade, galas, and concerts all while staying runway ready at all the pre-games and after-parties. Then our athletes put in miles at the Derby Marathon. There’s the crowing of the Derby Princesses. Then there’s the pre-game race to The Derby, The Oaks. Massachusetts has flag day and all the events leading up to their marathon. In lower Alabama, folks crowd the beach for Mullet Toss on the Florida-Bama line. In Stuttgart, Germany everyone dawns their lederhosen and dirndls for Fruhlingsfest (Spring Fest). And my home state of Kentucky has Derby.
If you are hosting a derby party, pre-game, or after party, here’s what you absolutely must have on your Kentucky Derby menu.
Mint Julep
They say, 95 percent of the world’s bourbon supply comes from Kentucky. I say, there ain’t no such thing as Bourbon made outside the state of Kentucky. We use up at least a quarter of those reserves the first Saturday of May (I made up that last stat myself). Here’s a stat I didn’t make up: Churchill Downs serves 120,000 Mint Juleps between the Oaks and Derby. Grocery stores are run clean out of mint that weekend. Growing your own is your best bet.
This minty bourbon refresher has been official traditional drink of Derby since 1939. If you have nothing else on your Kentucky Derby menu, you absolutely must offer the Mint Juleps to your guests (unless it’s a completely sober Derby Party in which, I have a recipe for that too). The menu centers around this drink. This recipe is from ‘The Ideal Bartender’ by Tom Bullock, America’s first Black mixology recipe book author and fine dinning bartender for nearly half a century.
Kentucky Hot Brown
A Hot Brown sandwich is an open-face, hot turkey sandwich originally created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Legend has it, famished bluegrass revelers, partying early into the morning, needed something to satiate their appetites. This was back 31 years before the first waffle house in 1926, y’all. So, Chef Fred Schmidt used the ingredients he had leftover in his kitchen. A tradition was born. You’ll find these staples especially in Louisville and Lexington restaurant menus and as hors devours at the finest Kentucky weddings.
Bourbon Balls
Maybe people outside Kentucky use fancy words like “truffles” but we call them what they are: Balls of Bourbon. but 95 percent of the world’s bourbon comes from Kentucky. These sweet, slightly boozy bourbon balls are always a hit, and they are a delicious treat to make for holiday parties and gifts. They’re similar to rum balls, but with that unmistakable Kentucky spirit. My extra boozy Bourbon Balls
Kentucky Derby Bourbon Walnut Chocolate Pie
The manager of the Melrose Inn of Prospect, Kentucky developed this quintessential Kentucky dessert in1950. It’s made similarly to pecan pie except it uses two crusts and made with chocolate and walnuts. “Derby Pie” is trademarked by the hyper-litigious Kern family and they lo-o-o-o-v-e suing people. So, you got to call yours something different like, Kentucky Derby Bourbon Chocolate Walnut Pie, to avoid getting sued. You can taste the original recipe at fine Kentucky hotels and restaurants like The Brown, The Bristol, and the Crown Plaza.
Benedictine Spread
Jennie Benedict, a chef from Harrods Creek, near Louisville, made this cucumbers and cream cheese spread a Kentucky classic. After receiving her culinary training in Boston, she went on to write several cookbooks and ran a soda shop. This light spread is the perfect base for springtime canapés and tea-sandwiches. You’ll see them at bridal showers and baby showers allover Kentucky.
Now, the rest of the menu items are standard southern fare.
Other Southern Fare
Pimiento Cheese– No southern affair can be complete without deviled eggs. The same can be said for Pimiento cheese. Fill your deviled eggs with Pimiento cheese to be Derby party hero. Pimiento cheese makes a great addition to crostini, canapés, charcuterie boards.
Deviled Eggs– These southern favorites are so versatile you can fill them with anything: avocado, cheese, horseradish-based mix, mayo-based dip, hummus…your creativity is your only limit
Buttermilk Fried Chicken– c’mon it’s Kentucky. of course we’re going to have our chicken fried! And no bars held with tons of herbs and spices with a buttermilk drudge.
BBQ Shrimp – Skip the cocktail sauce and use barbeque. But except having a dip on the side, plunge those ocean mudbugs in a BBQ bath.
Bourbon BBQ Meatballs– If you can add bourbon, Derby is the event to do it.
BBQ Smoked Brisket, Mutton, or pulled pork– My hometown put BBQ mutton (lamb) on the map. When in doubt, in the south lean heavily on BBQ
They say, there isn’t a Kentuckian who isn’t headed home or thinking about home. These extra boozy, chocolate bourbon balls will have you doing both.
My great-grandma was buried in Hardin County, Kentucky when I was in first grade. Consequently, I don’t remember her. All I have is a picture of her holding me at eight months old and her legacy, passed down from my mom. That legacy is that her traditional Kentucky bourbon balls were extra boozy and burned going down.
Bourbon and chocolate slow dance together in an authentically Kentucky, Bourbon Ball recipe
Flash forward to my young adulthood:
I was working at my first duty station in Montgomery, Alabama right after college. Feeling a little homesick during the first week of May, I decided to experiment in my kitchen and came up with the perfect mix of chocolate and booze for Kentucky Bourbon Balls.
Since the military brings folks from all over the globe together, it’s standard to share our regional traditions. So I decided to share my Kentucky traditions and brought my concoction to work for my co-workers. It wasn’t a whole five minutes that my bourbon balls were on the free-for-all table that my outlook started blowing up with e-mails:
“OMG, it burns!” “I’m going to be driving home drunk!” “These cookies are like taking a shot.” “Keep em’ coming!”
Oh, maybe bringing balls of bourbon was not the best idea. Didn’t think that one all the way through. Or perhaps it was the best idea ever! Depends on your perspective. It was even mentioned at my going away, the time I set the whole office drunk. Whoops! I’m not sure exactly how Mama Claire made her bourbon balls, but they seemed to yield the same effect. I just chalk any differences in recipe up to generational evolution. Most recipes out on the interwebs today call for ‘Nilla wafers. I nix that. Instead, my balls go for max chocolate flavor dancing with maximum bourbon flavor.
So, if you find yourself hosting a Kentucky Derby party this spring, or just longing for home, make sure this recipe is used to keep it authentically Kentucky.
Mama Claire’s Great Grand Daughter’s Bourbon Balls
Prep: 1 day (Yes Really, a whole day) Yields: 75 balls
INGREDIENTS
1 cup chocolate graham crackers finely crumbled in a food processor 1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs (Oreo makes 8-inch pie crusts that measures out to be 1 cup of cookie crumbs, or you can scrape the icing out of the cookies then use a food processor, they cost about the same using Oreo brand) 1 cup Bourbon (Wild Turkey Honey, Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace Four Roses…I used Makers, just make sure it’s from Kentucky) 1 cup Chopped pecans (or sliced almonds or ground walnuts) 5 0z package of dry chocolate pudding mix 1/2 cup Cocoa powder 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup Brown sugar 4 TBS unsalted, softened butter 1 TBS vanilla extract
Notes: You might take people’s nut allergies into consideration and make a nut-free batch. Although most of my recpes follow my cultural tradition of seasoning until the ancestors say enough, I actually tested this recipe for measurment accuracy.
I love these beautiful shades of brown from the different types of chocolate plus, brown sugar.
DIRECTIONS
In a covered bowl, soak one cup of finely chopped pecans in a cup of bourbon for hours. HOURS!!! Try eight. Soak the nuts in the morning, go to work, come back that evening and start mixing. Or soak overnight.
In a mixing bowl, combine your cookie & cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, semisweet chocolate chips, and brown sugar. Mix.
Add pecans & bourbon soak to the dry chocolate ingredients bowl. Then add the rest of the wet mix ingredients and mix together until the mixture is moldable like damp sand. If you overdo it and the mix is too runny (it won’t be) add powdered sugar. If it’s not mixing enough, add hints of more bourbon.
Using a mini cooking scoop, roll the batter into 1-inch balls. Sit them in mini cupcake cups for individual servings or let sit on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for an hour.
To decorate: Roll balls in powdered sugar, ground nuts, chocolate sprinkles, cocoa powder or drizzle with sweetened condensed milk or icing for garnish.
The scent of pecans soaking in bourbon is how I imagine Heaven will smell when I get there…especially if Mama Claire is already there in the kitchen.
Store in an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator. These taste best two days later after bourbon has had time to permeate. They also freeze well. You know you made them just right when you get the enthusiastic reaction and have folks telling you it burns going down like a shot of bourbon in cookie form. These extra boozy, chocolate treats will have you back in the bluegrass in no time, if only in your heart.
While you’re in a Kentucky state of mind, head on over to my Hot Brown recipe and make it a Kentucky kind of day.
