Whiskey Barrel Shaped Beaker

Made to resemble a barrel, this beaker left little doubt as to its intended contents – whiskey.  Stereotypically cups like this held “mint juleps” a drink defined around 1800 as “a dram of spiritous liquor that has mint steeped in it taken by Virginians in the morning.”  In 1839 the drinking habits of Kentuckians like Blanchard – men who had emigrated from Virginia – was made light of by Captain Frederick Marryat: “They say that you may always know the grave of a Virginian as from the quantity of julep he has drunk mint invariably springs up where he has been buried.”  Whether Marryat’s Virginian’s drank from silver cups or not is unknown.  Today, however, a mint julep served in a silver cup is indelibly linked with the Kentucky Derby.