From a 1941 cocktail recipe book compiled and edited by W.C. Whitfield. The secret to a good mint julep (Maryland or Kentucky) is two-fold: 1 - use only shaved iced, never cubes or crushed, and, 2 – serve in a highball glass with a terry cloth material band that keeps the body heat in your hand from melting the ice (tennis wrist bands work wonderfully!). This is a superb--perhaps even a summer-defining--cocktail.

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp water
4 sprigs fresh mint
3 oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye (this is why it’s called a Maryland julep!)
Sipping straw

Place mint leaves, water and sugar in a 10 oz Collins glass and muddle until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved and the mint is crushed. Place glass in freezer for 10 minutes to chill.

While glass is chilling shave ice. Fill chilled glass with shaved ice and pour rye over it to top off. Put a terry cloth band around glass, insert straw and imbibe the julep through the straw.

Courtesy Larry Kilbourne