David Danielson Serves 127,000 Derby Mint Juleps — Mint Julep Recipe
David Danielson’s mint julep recipe for the Kentucky Derby is built for scale, not theater. At Churchill Downs, the executive chef said the team makes about 127,000 of the bourbon cocktails on Derby Day, serving the signature drink to roughly 400,000 people coming through the gates.
Churchill Downs and David Danielson
Danielson told HuffPost that Churchill Downs starts preparing for the Derby in August of the previous year, with over 1,000 workers helping get everything ready. The cocktails are poured right after the gates open at 8 a.m., and last call comes at 8:10 p.m., a tight service window for a crowd this large.
“We’ve got an army of people over here working to get everything geared up,” Danielson said. The scale is not cosmetic: Churchill Downs uses 254,000 ounces of bourbon, over 10,000 750 milliliter bottles, 300 crates of mint from Louisville’s Dohn Gardens, and 60,000 pounds of ice to make the juleps.
Woodford Reserve and mint syrup
The Derby’s signature julep uses Woodford Reserve, which Danielson described as “a very smooth bourbon” with “a great flavor profile and delicious caramel notes.” The recipe replaces the usual scoop of sugar with mint simple syrup, made with equal parts sugar and water.
“We make a mint simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water. We bring it to a boil and add mint to it. Then we let it steep and strain it off,” Danielson said. After a big batch of bourbon is mixed with the syrup, he said the mixture goes into the fridge.
Serving the Derby crowd
The Derby has been held since 1875, and the drink service now runs like a production line. That is the practical story here: a single cocktail recipe has to work for a stadium-sized audience, using one bourbon, one mint source, and one prep schedule that starts months before the race on Saturday, May 2.
For anyone trying to make the drink at home, Danielson gave the final step plainly: “Take your ice out, pour [this boozy mixture] over top, garnish it, and you’re literally off to the races, my friend.” At Churchill Downs, the harder part is not the garnish; it is getting enough mint, ice, and bourbon ready before the first pour at 8 a.m.
