Tomorrow is the 137th Kentucky Derby and as usual my family is having a party. A big part of the party is making mint juleps, the combination of bourbon, simple syrup, mint and ice that Henry Clay introduced to Washington and by extension the country/world when he was a senator from Kentucky. After the drinks are passed out, we are ready to sing “My Old Kentucky Home”…poorly.

The occasion of the Derby prompted Express Night Out to publish Be a Caskmaster: Breaking Out the Bourbon, story about the spirit and the cocktails that area bartenders like to use it in. My friend Joe Riley is quoted as well.

As for the Derby itself, I need to pick my horse, so I’ll be heading over to Louisville’s Courier-Journal for their excellent coverage.

REQUIRED LISTENING

REQUIRED READING

Hunter S. Thompson’s The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved

MAYBE THIS TOO

The Ombudsman, scheduled to appear for his first Derby Party, passes this along from The Huffington Post: Forget About Horses: A Bourbon Picking Guide for Derby Day, and Every Day