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New York is not kind to fans of the mint julep. In addition to enduring denigration of one's sexual potency, hardly anyone has this drink on the menu, and bartenders familiar with every other kind of swill cannot or will not mix it. Even more objectionably, a LES dive called Julep's doles out some of the worst, most caustic mint juleps in town, despite claiming to serve the "world's best." This isn't a tough drink to make, but bartenders tend to either bury the glass in sugar or just turn it into a shot of bourbon with a mint garnish. If you don't object to the somewhat snooty scene and can score a table-bench, Pegu Club (Houston between Wooster and West Broadway) offers one of the better mint julep analogs north of Mason-Dixon. The "Whiskey Smash" is the proprietor's tribute to cocktail overlord Dale DeGroff, who originated the recipe. It's a highball of bourbon, ostensibly homemade simple syrup, muddled lemon, and fresh mint. Even though the simple syrup makes the sweetness not quite so cloying, you're still advised to ask for a light hand on the syrup. The huffy sigh you'll get from the waitress (these "mixologists" know best, you scum) is worth the diminished sugar taste, alloying you to relish the liquor, mint, citrus, and custom square ice cubes hand-hewn from the vanishing Chedotlothna Glacier.

Pegu Club [Official site]

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