How to make a perfect Mint Julep, according to a Louisville bartender
Here to help is Greg Galganski, lead bartender at Proof on Main at 21c Louisville, who is providing a classic Mint Julep recipe you can bet on, plus some expert tips for building this drink. (He's made well over 1,000 juleps, afterall).
21c Louisville is a 91-room boutique hotel in Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby, that doubles as a contemporary art museum. Proof on Main is the hotel's art-filled restaurant and bourbon-centric bar.
Ready to make a perfect Mint Julep? Here's how to do just that, according to Galganski.
Ingredients:
3 oz Bourbon over 100 proof. Some of his favorites are Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Elijah Craig Barrel Strength, and Old Forester 1920
0.5 oz simple syrup
6-8 mint sleeves
Garnish: Freshly shocked mint springs and powdered sugar
Instructions:
1. Take the mint leaves and gently press in the palm of your hand before placing in a julep cup with simple syrup and half of the bourbon (1.5 oz).
2. Fill the cup halfway with crushed ice, swizzle* the mixture, and allow it to stand for 30 seconds before adding the remaining bourbon.
3. Pile on more crushed ice before garnishing with mint and powdered sugar.
* Swizzling is stirring the cocktail with ice to chill and dilute to spread the flavors.
As a general rule for cocktails featuring bourbon, Galganski looks for bottles with a high flavor concentration so the bourbon shines through.
'These tend to be bourbons that are 100 proof or something above that like a barrel or batch-strength offering,' he says.
There are many excellent options these days, Galganski says, and some of his picks include Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Elijah Craig Barrel Strength, and Old Forester 1920.
A quick simple syrup can be made by heating equal parts granulated cane sugar and water by weight until the sugar has dissolved. It will keep for two weeks when refrigerated, so you can make your simple syrup ahead of your Derby party (and have some leftover for other homemade cocktails in the days following).
Mint can be tricky to source from the grocery store, Galganski says.
'It is often crammed into small packages with only four to five sprigs, but you can 'shock' it to make the most of it,' he says.
A home alternative would be a potted mint plant, which will yield a good amount of mint for your summer libations.
'If you go down this route, make sure the mint is potted, as I cannot recommend letting mint run wild in your garden,' he cautions.
Shocking is like the opposite of blanching. To shock mint, Galganski says, place it in an ice bath for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting the stems as you would a bouquet of flowers. Then place the mint (stem down) in lukewarm water where it will spring to life.
To make a Mint Julep like a pro, keep powdered sugar in a duster to gently shake over the garnished cocktail to add a pop of color, he recommends.
Don't over muddle the mint! 'We're just looking to allow the oils in the leaf to be released into the bourbon and simple syrup,' Galganski says.
A metal vessel works best. Don't have a julep cup at home? Substitute a copper mule mug, he recommends.
The quality of your bourbon choice matters. You want to start with a high quality and flavor dense bourbon so that as your julep dilutes you have a delicious cocktail at the end rather than minty ice water, according to Galganski.
One final note: Hold your horses; a julep isn't meant to be slammed!
'In my opinion a julep is a drink you carry around as a companion,' Galganski says. 'It will start out as a strong eyeopener before diluting into a more refreshing and uplifting drink.'
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UPI
2 days ago
- UPI
Derby, Belmont winner Sovereignty has to prove it again in Jim Dandy
1 of 3 | Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty returns to the races as the favorite in Saturday's Jim Dandy at Saratoga. File Photo by Mark Abraham/UPI | License Photo July 25 (UPI) -- Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty takes on some old rivals again Saturday in the Jim Dandy at Springfield and will have to continue proving himself to maintain his top spot among American 3-year-olds. Saturday's Grade I Bing Crosby at Del Mar is a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint and looks pretty ripe for the picking. On the global scene, Saturday's King George at Ascot offers a guaranteed slot in the Breeders' Cup Turf with two-time winner of that race, Rebel's Romance, looking like a long shot. And we're off like a sure thing ... Classic Sovereignty clearly leads the 3-year-old division after winning the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. But in what's turned out to be a tough and competitive season, he's going to have to prove it again in Saturday's $500,000 Grade II Jim Dandy at Saratoga. Just a week after his chief rival, Journalism, stayed in the mix with a victory in the Grade I Haskell at Monmouth Park, Sovereignty takes on another familiar foe, Baeza, in the Jim Dandy. Baeza returns from California after finishing third in the Belmont and third in the Kentucky Derby. Before that, he was second to Journalism in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby. But wait. There's more. Also in the tidy, five-horse field is Sandman. He won the Grade I Arkansas Derby, but then finished seventh at Churchill Downs and third in the Preakness. Mo Plex enters the Saratoga heat off victories in the Bay Shore at Aqueduct and the Grade III Ohio Derby at Thistledown and has not been worse than third in eight career starts. And Hill Road, third in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, won the Grade III Peter Pan before finishing fifth in the Belmont. Trainer Bill Mott said early in the week Sovereignty is "doing good" but, as always, needs things to go his way in the race. "We hope he has a good race and has a little luck. Anything can happen," Mott said. "They've got to go around there and it's not over until those blinking lights say 'official.' They've got to hang those numbers up and say official." Mo Plex's trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, said he was impressed with his colt's effort in Ohio, but noted, "Now he has this test of taking on the top 3-year-olds in the game." Important as it is, in the great arc of the 3-year-old season the Jim Dandy is "merely" the local prep for the $1.25 million Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 23 -- a.k.a. the "Midsummer Derby." And speaking of the Travers, Chancer McPatrick, winner of last year's Grade I Champagne Stakes and second in the Tampa Bay Derby in March, outfinished So Sandy by a head in Thursday's $135,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. 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After wandering in the wilderness since, he's back at Gulfstream for Friday's $70,000 Tackleberry Handicap, facing another Triple Crown refugee, Catalytic. These are some contentious races and industry insider Jude Feld has some interesting takes on some of the main heats. Check out his tips and thoughts at Distaff Running Away, Fondly and Paris Lily are stacked atop the morning line in a field of seven to contest Saturday's $250,000 Grade III Monmouth Oaks. Saturday's $150,000 Grade III Trillium on the Woodbine all-weather has six, featuring Caitlinhergrtness. The winner of last year's King's Plate looks for a bounce back from an eighth-place finish in the Grade II Nassau. Sprint Saturday's $400,000 Grade I Bing Crosby at Del Mar, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, looks like a midsummer peach orchard (you pick 'em). Well and almost evenly regarded on the morning line are Hejaz, World Record, Dr. Venkman, Mbagnick, Roll On Big Joe and Crazy Mason. Macho Music is the 2-1 morning-line pick in a field of eight for Friday's $200,000 Grade II Amsterdam for 3-year-olds at Saratoga. The Florida-bred won the Grade II Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, but then faded from the lead to finish in a dead heat for seventh in the Grade I Woody Stephens going 7 furlongs on June 7. This one is 6 1/2 furlongs. Turf The eight-horse field for Sunday's $250,000 Grade II Eddie Read at Del Mar looks pretty familiar, with many of the usual suspects signed on. Among them are Balnikhov and Gold Phoenxi from the Phil D'Amato barn, George Papaprodromu's Cabo Spirit and Balladeer and stalwarts Stay Hot, Atitlan, Formidable Man and Dicey Mo Chara. Filly & Mare Turf The first three from the July 3 Wild Applause Stakes -- Classic Q, Play With Fire and Lavender Disaster -- line up again for Saturday's $175,000 Grade III Lake George for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga. Nine 3-year-old fillies are entered for Saturday's $150,000 (Canadian) Ontario Colleen at Woodbine with a case to be made for many of them. Sunday's $250,000 Grade II Glens Falls at Saratoga is another competitive heat, with six of the eight in the main field held at single-digit odds on the morning line. Around the world, around the clock England Saturday's Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot shapes up as a proper heavyweight match, which is only appropriate for a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" event. Confirmations include Calandagan from France, Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel, top filly Kalpana and Godolphin's all-world Rebel's Romance, whose resume already includes two wins in the Breeders' Cup Turf. Calandagan ended a string of four consecutive Group 1 seconds with a victory in the Grand Prix de Paris in his last start. 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Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Celebrity Peter Andre and Derby charity teaming up on children's social media issues
Actor and singer Peter Andre has teamed up with a Derby social media expert to tackle the growing issue of children and social media. Mark Saxby, founder of social media consultancy Status Social, also leads Positive Social – a charity delivering school sessions to help children make better decisions about how they use social media. Mr Saxby was invited to speak to MPs and members of the House of Lords at a special event in Parliament, focused on the impact of social media and smartphones on children's mental health and wellbeing. It was there that he met Peter Andre, who starred in director and composer Fabio D'Andrea's anti-bullying short film Another Way, as they were both on the same panel. The film was screened at the event held in Portcullis House, and Mr Saxby is now hoping that it will soon be shown in school assemblies ahead of workshops by Positive Social. READ MORE: Inside Derby Market Hall's fancy new bar with more than 40 different cocktails READ MORE: Question mark over former Riverside car park after plans to build apartments on Derby site dropped Lady Frederick Windsor - an actress and campaigner on social media issues - also took part in the panel discussion and the event was hosted by Lord Nash, who is campaigning to raise the UK's minimum social media age to 16. Mr Saxby said: "It was wonderful to be in a room with so many people passionate about making a change. There were lots of different approaches to tackling the issue of social media and children, but we all agreed that through collaboration, we can make a real difference. "Our sessions in schools, and with parents, open eyes to the negative impact of social media – and how we can live more fulfilling lives if we're not glued to our screens. "Peter and his wife, Emily, love what we're doing. Like my wife Kerry and me, they have an 11-year-old – so they understand the challenges parents face." Mr Saxby hopes that the event has opened the door to more opportunities in schools, and help attract further funding for Positive Social, which currently offers its sessions free of charge to Year 7 students in state schools. Through its network of presenters across England, Positive Social has already run interactive classroom sessions for more than 13,000 students. He added: "Our vision is to work with every school in the UK to empower students to use social media positively and equip them to avoid the pitfalls. We were told by a deputy head teacher that 95% of issues in their school were caused by social media – so we decided to act. "We ran our first session for students in a Derby secondary school in 2014. We soon realised there was also a need for teachers and parents to be equipped to support young people in their use of social media." Peter Andre said at the London event: "In teenage years, it can feel difficult to talk and I know that as I've experienced it myself, but there are now the extra pressures of smartphones and social media. As a dad, this is something I am really aware of, and want to let teenagers know they are not alone."


Chicago Tribune
17-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Harry Teinowitz, sports talk radio host who wrote play on sobriety after DUI arrest, dies at 64
Harry Teinowitz was a well-known figure on Chicago's sports talk-radio airwaves in the 1990s and early 2000s, at one point co-hosting a top-rated sports show on WMVP-AM ESPN 1000. A comedian by background, Teinowitz later turned a personal setback in the early 2010s — a drunken-driving arrest and a stint in rehab — into a stage comedy, 'When Harry Met Rehab' that was loosely based on his life experiences. 'Harry lived to make people laugh and to make people happy,' said his longtime collaborator, Spike Manton, who also noted Teinowitz's love for sports. 'There was just never a night he wasn't watching at least two different games.' Teinowitz, 64, died of complications from a liver transplant July 15 at his home, said his brother, Danny. He was an Evanston resident. Teinowitz was the son of Philip Teinowitz, who owned four horses that raced in the Kentucky Derby, and Lois Teinowitz. Raised in Glencoe, Teinowitz graduated from New Trier East High School and attended the University of Kansas for one year. Interested in acting, Teinowitz got a part playing a pyromaniac bed-wetter in the 1980 comedy film 'Up the Academy,' which was shot in Salina, Kansas. He transferred to Columbia College Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree. Teinowitz dabbled in acting and had small role playing a teen at a party in the 1983 film 'Risky Business' starring Tom Cruise, which was shot on the North Shore, before pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian. Teinowitz was a regular at comedy clubs all over the city and suburbs in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, he and Manton started 'Funny Money,' an annual comedy benefit for the Greater Chicago Council of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse. 'I was very impressed with the charity, and I had a real sense of giving something back to the community,' Teinowitz told the Tribune in 1993. In the mid-1990s, Teinowitz and Manton began co-hosting a sports comedy radio show on Saturday nights on WMVP-AM. The pair developed something of a cult following, and got to know many athletes. In March 1996, the duo were promoted to host middays on WMVP. That show lasted just nine weeks before the station changed formats. Teinowitz performed some fill-in work on WMVP — including taking part in a 1997 interview that Steve Cochran held with O.J. Simpson, in which he asked the disgraced former football star his first pick in a fantasy football draft — and in late 1997 co-hosted an hourlong fantasy football show on WMVP. Teinowitz also briefly co-hosted an evening program on WCKG-FM with Pete McMurray. Returning to WMVP in October 1998 amid a relaunch of the sports-talk format, Teinowitz signed a deal to co-host afternoon drive with Manton. The following year, the pair shifted to evenings, and they also picked up a weekend morning fantasy football show, starting in 2000. He also did some work for the ESPN network. Teinowitz returned briefly to his acting roots in 2000, with a role in 'Return to Me,' a popular film shot in Chicago. In 2001, Teinowitz began his longest and best-known run on the airwaves, co-hosting an afternoon drive-time show on WMVP with veteran radio personality Dan McNeil and former NFL lineman John Jurkovic. The show's mouthful of a name? 'McNeil, Jurko and Harry.' The trio's time in the spotlight was marred by a variety of disputes, with McNeil drawing a suspension from the station in 2002 after a heated off-air exchange that involved McNeil shoving Teinowitz, and a two-day suspension for all three after a heated on-air discussion between McNeil and Teinowitz over Teinowitz's credibility. Despite the rancor — the Tribune's Ed Sherman called McNeil 'the cynical radio man' and Teinowitz 'the hopeful fan' — the show was successful, edging ahead of rival WSCR-AM in the ratings later in 2002 and performing well against competitors for the rest of their run together. 'I'm very laid back,' Teinowitz told the Tribune in 2005. 'Mac's very high-strung. I admire that he wants the show to be successful, and I admire the time and energy he puts into it. But I'm not crazy about his bedside manner. To that he would say, 'Get over it.'' Teinowitz and McNeil continued to spar from time to time, with an ugly on-air exchange in 2006 over Teinowitz asking for help to get his car parked devolving into an uglier off-air scene and another suspension. Teinowitz remained at WMVP after McNeil exited the station in 2009. He continued in his role supplying one-liners and a seemingly unrealistic amounts of optimism for Chicago sports teams. 'That's the outlook he had on life as well, even to his detriment,' Manton said. 'He didn't know how to hold a grudge. He was a hopeful fan, period.' In 2011, Skokie police caught Teinowitz driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. Teinowitz apologized on the air at the start of the next show he appeared on, and soon afterward he entered a rehabilitation program voluntarily. He returned to the airwaves about six weeks later. In 2013, WMVP parted ways with Teinowitz. The following year, he reunited with Manton to co-host an afternoon-drive show on the short-lived low-power radio station WGWG-LP 87.7 FM The Game. After The Game folded, Teinowitz was a fill-in host on WGN-AM for sports talk shows and non-sports shows. He worked frequently with Bill Leff, and also co-hosted WGN's weekend sports show, 'The Beat.' 'For somebody who grew up listening to Harry, to get to work with him was an honor, and what I learned quickly was that however big Harry's personality was, his heart was bigger,' said Mark Carman, a co-host. 'He was incredibly supportive to numerous people, myself included, who were trying to make their way in the business.' In 2021, the Greenhouse Theater Center in Lincoln Park staged 'When Harry Met Rehab,' a comedy about sobriety Teinowitz co-wrote with Manton. Loosely based on Teinowitz's life, the play starred Dan Butler of 'Frasier' fame and Melissa Gilbert, who starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder on 'Little House on the Prairie.' 'The macho persona of the Chicago sports guy does not, of course, easily admit error nor vulnerability. It took some guts for Teinowitz to tell his story without any excuses,' Tribune theater critic Chris Jones wrote in December 2021. 'When Harry Met Rehab' was staged in an off-Broadway theater in New York City last fall, under the title 'Another Shot.' In recent years, Teinowitz had suffered heart and liver problems. He received a liver transplant in 2023. A marriage to Wendy Teinowitz ended in divorce. Other survivors include a sister, Nancy; another brother, Billy; and two children, Lucy and Reggie. A funeral service is set for 1 p.m. Monday at Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd., Wilmette, followed by a reception at Maggiano's Little Italy, 4999 Old Orchard Shopping Center, Skokie.