So you think sipping that mint julep today — Southern bourbon, sugar, mint and crushed ice — connects you to tradition?

Jeff Burkhart, a bartender and writer, notes that the recipe for the first mint julep was quite different:

Professor Jerry Thomas, the original celebrity bartender, took on the subject in his 1862 bartending treatise “The Bon Vivant’s Companion” (later titled “How to Mix Drinks,” with the second title perhaps the first attempt to cash in on the Bartending for Idiots concept). Thomas quoted Captain Fredrick Marryat, an English author and naval officer who visited the American South in early part of the 19th century and offered a glimpse of the classic mint julep.

“I must decant a little upon the mint julep, as it is, with the thermometer at 100 degrees, one of the most delightful and insinuating potations that was ever invented,” Marryat wrote, “and may be drunk with equal satisfaction when the thermometer is as low as 70 degrees.” He then gives a recipe that uses mint, peach brandy and “common” brandy, sugar and pineapple. So much for traditional recipes.

Breaking even further with “tradition,” this year’s Run for the Roses has its own official tequila.

Herradura is the first tequila selected by Churchill Downs for this honor, presumably because its name means “horseshoe” in Spanish. The underlying reason? Herradura is owned by the Louisville-based company Brown-Forman, and it wants to recoup some of the $876 million it paid for Herradura last year.

So enjoy today, no matter what your drink (and Burkhart offers a “new” classic mint julep recipe if you’re interested in starting your own tradition). I’ll be sipping whatever variety our hosts mix up.

Plus: On the subject of traditions, Richard Crepeau several years ago wrote this Derby reflection, “Keeping Tradition Alive,” about how the Derby absorbs and reflects our relationship with race and class.