The Mint Julep cocktail was born in the southern United States during the 18^th century. A classic style of drink pre-dating the cocktail itself.

One of the first appearance of Mint Julep in print was published in John Davis 1803 Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America, where it described the Julep as “a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning”.

The Mint Julep cocktail has been promoted by Churchill Downs, a thoroughbred (horse breed) in south Louisville, Kentucky in association with the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks (the official horse racing) since 1938. Each year almost 120,000 Juleps are served over the two-day period of the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

The word origins middle English from old French “julep”, medieval Latin “julapium”, via Arabic from Persian “gulāb”, from “gul” rose + “āb” water.

Back in the days, a Julep cocktail used to be served with a Julep strainer in order to hold the ice, now we replaced it with a straw.

A man named Marvin Stone was the first to file a patent for a drinking straw, in 1888. The story says Stone was drinking a Mint Julep on a hot summer day in 1880, when his piece of ryegrass which was used as a straw, began to disintegrate. Stone, a paper cigarette holder manufacturer, decided he could make something better. He wrapped strips of paper around a pencil, glued them together and soon had an early prototype of paper drinking straws.