Is it already the day of the Kentucky Derby? Fantastic! The perfect excuse for the most refreshing drink you can make with brown liquor: the Mint Julep. The best way to make mint julep is to brew the mint and bourbon together on the day of the Kentucky Derby one year before you intend to drink it. If you don't have that kind of foresight, pray for a cloudless day, and brew it like sun tea, then chill it in the fridge. In law school we brewed a couple handles of Jim Beam with fistfuls of mint on the tarpaper roof of our crappy apartment house, and drank it all weekend. If you have a tarpaper roof and a sun overhead, there are worse things you could do with your weekend.

Recipe: Mint Julep

Ingredients:

• 1 750 mL bottle Kentucky Bourbon
  
• 3/4 cup washed, packed fresh mint leaves
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1 cup water
  
• Ice

Pour out about 3/4 cup of the bourbon. Drink it or cook with it immediately. (It helps to have friends around when you're making this.)

Stuff the mint leaves into the bottle and re-seal it. Store it in a cool place for a year, or put it out in the sun for at least an hour. Put it in the fridge to chill.

Meanwhile, dissolve the sugar in the water in a pot over medium heat to make a simple syrup. When fully dissolved, remove to a storage container and put in the fridge.

At ten minutes to post time, pour 1 part simple syrup and two parts of the mint-bourbon brew over ice. Garnish with fresh mint leaves. Drink with caution: it goes down easy but it's hella strong.