greeneagle5
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2007
- Messages
- 347
>>> COPY OF A LETTER FROM COLONEL (later LIEUTENANT GENERAL) SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER, JR., USA
[ WEST POINT-1908, KILLED ON OKINAWA 18 JUNE 1945] TO MAJOR GENERAL WM. D. CONNOR,
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT
>>>
>>> 30 MARCH 1937
>>>
>>> My dear General Connor:
>>>
>>> Your letter requesting my formula for mixing mint juleps leaves me
>>> in the same position in which Captain
>>> Barber found himself when asked how he was able to carve the image
>>> of an elephant from a block of
>>> wood. He said that it was a simple process consisting merely of
>>> whittling off the part that didn't look like
>>> an elephant.
>>>
>>> The preparation of the quintessence of gentlemanly beverages can be
>>> described only in like terms. A
>>> mint julep is not a product of a formula. It is a ceremony and must
>>> be performed by a gentleman
>>> possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the
>>> ingredients and a proper appreciation of
>>> the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice,
>>> a statistician nor a Yankee. It is a
>>> heritage of the Old South, and emblem of hospitality, and a vehicle
>>> in which noble minds can travel
>>> together upon the flower-strewn paths of a happy and congenial
>>> thought.
>>>
>>> So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the
>>> procedure, stripped of its ceremonial
>>> embellishments, can be described as follows:
>>>
>>> Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a
>>> bank of dew-washed ferns. In a
>>> consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the
>>> stream thru its banks of green moss
>>> and wild flowers until it broadens and trickles thru beds of mint
>>> growing in aromatic profusion and waving
>>> softly in the summer breeze. Gather the sweetest and tenderest
>>> shoots and gently carry them home. Go
>>> to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon
>>> distilled by a master hand, mellowed with
>>> age, yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a
>>> row of silver goblets, some spoons and
>>> some ice and you are ready to start.
>>>
>>> Into a canvas bag pound twice as much ice as you think you will
>>> need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry
>>> and do not allow it to degenerate into slush.
>>>
>>> Into each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated
>>> sugar, barely cover this with spring
>>> water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the
>>> spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from
>>> the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the
>>> goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a
>>> small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outside of the goblets
>>> dry, and embellish copiously with mint.
>>>
>>> Then comes the delicate and important operation of frosting. By
>>> proper manipulation of the spoon, the
>>> ingredients are circulated and blended until nature, wishing to
>>> take a further hand and add another of its
>>> beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glistening coat of
>>> white frost. Thus harmoniously blended
>>> by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage
>>> eminently appropriate for honorable men and
>>> beautiful women.
>>>
>>> When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the
>>> garden where the aroma of the juleps will
>>> rise heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast,
>>> raise the goblets to your lips, bury
>>> your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and
>>> sip the nectar of the gods.
>>>
>>> Being overcome with thirst, I can write no further.
>>>
>>> Sincerely, S.B. Buckner, Jr., Colonel >
[ WEST POINT-1908, KILLED ON OKINAWA 18 JUNE 1945] TO MAJOR GENERAL WM. D. CONNOR,
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT
>>>
>>> 30 MARCH 1937
>>>
>>> My dear General Connor:
>>>
>>> Your letter requesting my formula for mixing mint juleps leaves me
>>> in the same position in which Captain
>>> Barber found himself when asked how he was able to carve the image
>>> of an elephant from a block of
>>> wood. He said that it was a simple process consisting merely of
>>> whittling off the part that didn't look like
>>> an elephant.
>>>
>>> The preparation of the quintessence of gentlemanly beverages can be
>>> described only in like terms. A
>>> mint julep is not a product of a formula. It is a ceremony and must
>>> be performed by a gentleman
>>> possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the
>>> ingredients and a proper appreciation of
>>> the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice,
>>> a statistician nor a Yankee. It is a
>>> heritage of the Old South, and emblem of hospitality, and a vehicle
>>> in which noble minds can travel
>>> together upon the flower-strewn paths of a happy and congenial
>>> thought.
>>>
>>> So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the
>>> procedure, stripped of its ceremonial
>>> embellishments, can be described as follows:
>>>
>>> Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a
>>> bank of dew-washed ferns. In a
>>> consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the
>>> stream thru its banks of green moss
>>> and wild flowers until it broadens and trickles thru beds of mint
>>> growing in aromatic profusion and waving
>>> softly in the summer breeze. Gather the sweetest and tenderest
>>> shoots and gently carry them home. Go
>>> to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon
>>> distilled by a master hand, mellowed with
>>> age, yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a
>>> row of silver goblets, some spoons and
>>> some ice and you are ready to start.
>>>
>>> Into a canvas bag pound twice as much ice as you think you will
>>> need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry
>>> and do not allow it to degenerate into slush.
>>>
>>> Into each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated
>>> sugar, barely cover this with spring
>>> water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the
>>> spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from
>>> the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the
>>> goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a
>>> small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outside of the goblets
>>> dry, and embellish copiously with mint.
>>>
>>> Then comes the delicate and important operation of frosting. By
>>> proper manipulation of the spoon, the
>>> ingredients are circulated and blended until nature, wishing to
>>> take a further hand and add another of its
>>> beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glistening coat of
>>> white frost. Thus harmoniously blended
>>> by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage
>>> eminently appropriate for honorable men and
>>> beautiful women.
>>>
>>> When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the
>>> garden where the aroma of the juleps will
>>> rise heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast,
>>> raise the goblets to your lips, bury
>>> your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and
>>> sip the nectar of the gods.
>>>
>>> Being overcome with thirst, I can write no further.
>>>
>>> Sincerely, S.B. Buckner, Jr., Colonel >