Iulapium e mentha[1] (Anglicemint julep) est potio mixta, saeculo XIX in Civitatibus Foederatis requisitissima, e mixturis antiquioribus salutaribus derivata: iulapium enim est potio medicinalis.[2]
Iulapium e mentha iam anno 1809 ab Washington Irving potionem solitam Neo-Eboracensium fuisse asseveratur: "incolae famose ope iulapii e mentha spiritusque malorum inebriati gaudire solebantur".[3]
Annis 1820/1830 Novi Eboraci apud City Hotel a pincerna "immortali" Orsamo Willard proponi solebat.[4] Carolus Augustus Murray, peregrinationes suas narrans, iulapium e mentha "potionem" esse ait "quae propius ad nectarem appropinquatur quam ulla antehac a me aut gustata aut figurata".[4] Auctor Thomas Mayne Reid anno 1856 confectionem iulepis e mentha a pincerna pontonisMississippiensis descripsit:
He lifted the glasses one in each hand, and poured the contents from one to the other, so rapidly that ice, brandy, lemons, and all, seemed to be constantly suspended in the air, and oscillating between the glasses. The tumblers themselves at no time approached nearer than two feet from each other! This adroitness, peculiar to his craft, and only obtained after long practice, was evidently a source of professional pride ("Cyathis ambobus manibus sublevatis, impensa ab alio in alium infudit tam rapide ut glacies spiritusque vini limoniaque omniaque continuo aëre suspensa et inter cyathos oscillantia videbantur. Qui cyathi nunquam propius quam duobus pedibus [60 cm] sibi appropinquabant. Haec peritia, illae arti propria, post longas experientias nacta, superbiam professionis sui producere videbatur").[5]
Praeceptum his verbis a Murray datur: wine [Madeira or claret] mingled in a tumbler with a soupçon of French brandy, lime, and lemon, ice pulverised by attrition, and a small portion of sugar, the whole being crowned with a bunch of fresh mint ("vinum aut Maderense aut Burdigalense in scypho mixtum cum inspersione spiritus vini Francici, lumia, limonio, glacie attrita, saccari modico, quod omne fasciculo menthae viridis incoronatur").[4] Sed Francisca Trollope loco "inspersionis" spiritus vini "totum poculum" vischii praecepit,[7] Mayne Reid haud dissimiliter (sed alio spiritu) "impensum cyathi magni spiritus Cognacensis"; ambo vinum omittunt; Mayne Reid insuper addit modicum suci ananae ultimis momentis expressi.[5]
↑Haec appellatio a Vicipaediano e lingua indigena in sermonem Latinum conversa est. Extra Vicipaediam huius locutionis testificatio vix inveniri potest.
↑The inhabitants . . . were notoriously prone to get fuddled and make merry with mint julep and apple toddy: Washington Irving, History of New York (1809) vol. 2 p. 180 fide The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxonii: Clarendon Press, 1989. 20 voll.)
↑ 4.04.14.2The immortal Willard . . . A beverage approaching more nearly to nectar than any that I had ever tasted or imagined: Murray (1839)
1856 : Thomas Mayne Reid, The Quadroon, or A lover's adventures in Louisiana (3 voll. Londinii: G. W. Hyde, 1856; Vol. 123 apud Internet Archive) vol. 2 pp. 163-180
c. 1890? : Joshua Soule Smith, "The Mint Julep" Textus plenus?
1939 : Charles H. Baker Jr, The Gentleman’s Companion, Volume II: being an exotic drinking book (Novi Eboraci: Derrydale Press) pp. 61-69
Richard Barksdale Harwell, The Mint Julep. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1975
David Wondrich, Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar (2a ed. Novi Eboraci: Perigee, 2015) cap. 1-2
David Wondrich, "Julep" in David Wondrich, Noah Rothbaum, edd., The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Novi Eboraci: Oxford University Press, 2021. ISBN 978-0-19-931113-2) pp. 90-92
Praecepta
1911 : George R. Washburne, Stanley Bronner, Beverages de luxe (Louisville: Wine & Spirit Bulletin) "Kentucky mint julep"