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CNN Saturday Morning News
How to Make the Kentucky Derby's Official Drink
Aired May 04, 2002 - 09:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Excitement is building at Churchill Downs for the annual Running of the Roses, for the Roses, whatever it -- however that goes. Nineteen horses are racing in today's Kentucky Derby, which is being described as one of the most competitive and unpredictable in recent years, which is another way of saying no one knows who's running.
CNN's Sean Callebs knows. He joins us from Churchill Downs. Sean drew the long straw, got the good assignment this year, didn't you, Seanie?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, man, it's a brutal, brutal assignment, isn't it, standing out there in this beautiful Kentucky bluegrass on a wonderful day like this?
By the way, Miles, only 18 horses now. In the last hour or so, Dan the Bluegrass Man, going off at 50 to 1, has been scratched. We don't know exactly why, we'll hopefully bring you later that as the...
O'BRIEN: Dan -- wait a minute...
CALLEBS: ... sports report continues.
O'BRIEN: ... Dan, Dan the Bluegrass Man.
CALLEBS: Dan the Bluegrass Man, yes.
O'BRIEN: So all that money I put on Dan...
CALLEBS: Fifty to one.
O'BRIEN: ... the Bluegrass Man, what do I -- do I get it back?
CALLEBS: No. It goes to me, because I'm going to win now.
O'BRIEN: We're going to get...
CALLEBS: We'll talk about betting one of these days. The ways they can bet, just simply amazing. But if you're looking for a sure bet, you can bet that somebody's going to enjoy a mint julep here today. And we're going to talk about that.
Joining us now, Chris Morris, the master distiller, Brown and Forman, makers of the official bourbon... CHRIS MORRIS, WOODFORD RESERVE: The official bourbon...
CALLEBS: ... of the Kentucky Derby.
MORRIS: That's right, Sean.
CALLEBS: So what's your day like? I mean, it's got to be mint juleps from dawn till dusk, right?
MORRIS: That's what it is, that's what it is. The planned title today, everybody's having a good time today.
CALLEBS: Well, let's talk about this and what makes it so special. We have all the ingredients down here in front of us, the official bourbon, the ice, the glass, the powdered sugar, and the mint, which I love the name of this mint.
MORRIS: Kentucky Colonel Mint. Kentucky Colonel Mint. This is a cocktail that people are sort of daunted by. It looks so pretty, it must be hard to make. It's one of the simplest cocktails. In fact, as far as record shows, the oldest cocktail still being served today. This is an over 300-year-old drink.
CALLEBS: Well, walk us through it, quickly now.
MORRIS: Get a glass, put a handful of mint leaves, those Kentucky Colonel mint leaves, in the bottle. We're going to take -- get about a teaspoon of powdered sugar. Never use granulated sugar, because it takes too long to melt.
CALLEBS: Ah, OK.
MORRIS: Lot of recipes call for adding a little spring water. Well, we'll forget the water and add some bourbon.
CALLEBS: Just a splash at this point.
MORRIS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) reserve, so we can muddle. And muddling is crushing the mint leaves with the sugar and the bourbon till we get a nice mint essence coming out of those leaves. Doesn't take too long at all.
Then we're going to add some ice, and hopefully we won't spill too much of it here (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And to that ice we're going to add three ounces of Wood Reserve.
(CROSSTALK)
MORRIS: And more ice, very easy. Then we're going to garnish with a nice sprig of mint, and a sipping straw, and there we have it, in 30 seconds. A classic mint julep.
CALLEBS: Whoa, whoa. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), a sipping drink.
And quickly, they -- here they sell in a bottle, these are the official drink, Dave Stang with the Early Times is here with us, and they make these, they sell about 100,000 of these during this day?
CHRIS STANG, EARLY TIMES: Well, the next two days -- well, actually, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) yesterday and today, Derby, they expect to sell 90,000 to 100,000 Early Times mint juleps here at the track. Been doing so for the last 15 years.
CALLEBS: OK, it's been a wonderful day here, it's the start of the day, the Derby's still about 6:04, it's supposed to run today, and I can guarantee by then a lot of people are going to have a few mint juleps in them.
Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: Now I know what they mean by muddled. You drink a few of those, and that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Sean, take it easy there, pal. I know you have to do your research, but take it easy, and...
CALLEBS: I'm pacing myself.
O'BRIEN: OK. And all this time I thought it was about horse racing. Silly me.
CALLEBS: Silly you.
O'BRIEN: All right, enjoy the race, we'll see you a little later, Sean. Sean Callebs at Churchill Downs, once again. Some people get all the assignments.
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