1st June: Mint Julep Day

Today is Mint Julep Day at New College Oxford. 10 things you may not know about mint juleps:

1. In the US, Mint Julep Day is in May - but we Brits have our own celebration on June 1st, dating from 1845, when William Trapier, an American planter from South Carolina introduced Fellows of New College, Oxford to the drink. The tradition continued until 1945. More recently, in 2013, New College passed a motion to reinstate Mint Julep Day and to appoint a Mint Julep Quartermaster or mistress to organise it. The motion passed unopposed although with a few changes - a different name for the role, and a formal interview process.
2. What is a mint julep anyway? It's a cocktail, made from bourbon, Water, ice, and Mint, traditionally spearmint.
3. In the 19th century, mint juleps were often made with Gin.
4. It was originally a drink for medicinal purposes. The word "julep" means a sweet drink, and derives from the Persian word Golâb, meaning rose water. It was prescribed in the 18th century for stomach upsets.
5. Mint juleps were traditionally served in Silver or pewter cups which would be carefully handled - held only at the bottom or the top edges, so that frost could form on the cup. Nowadays, they are usually sold in tall glasses.
6. Mint julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. Racegoers quaff around 120,000 of them, in special collectible glasses.
7. If you're feeling particularly flash you can buy the special $1,000 version - served in a gold-plated cup with a silver straw, made from Woodford Reserve bourbon, mint imported from Ireland, spring water ice cubes from the Bavarian Alps, and sugar from Australia. Proceeds from sales of these drinks support charities which look after retired racehorses.
8. The Kentucky Derby was also the venue for the world's largest mint julep glass in 2008. It was 6-foot (1.8 m) tall (7.5-foot (2.3 m) with the mint sprig added). It had a capacity of 206 US gallons, and had a pumping system inside the "straw" to distribute the drinks.
9. J. Soule Smith, a Kentucky newspaperman, wrote an ode to the julep in the 1890s. Its first verse reads: “Then comes the zenith of man’s pleasure./Then comes the julep - the mint julep./Who has not tasted one has lived in vain./The honey of Hymettus brought no such solace to the soul;/ the nectar of the gods is tame beside it./ It is the very dream of drinks, the vision of sweet quaffings.”
10. There is also a rhythm and blues song called One Mint Julep. The song was written by Rudy Toombs and was a hit for the Clovers. It is about a young man who falls for a woman and suddenly realises he has a ring on his finger a few years down the line. "I don't want to bore you, with my trouble," he laments, "But from now on I'll be thinking double." He reminisces that "it all started with one mint julep."