Fun With Mezcal

Found this “Mezcal Martinez” in Serious Eats which takes advantage of our late interest in creme de cacao: four parts mezcal, three parts white vermouth, three parts Combier (we used cheap triple sec), two parts creme de cacao, a dash of bitters (I think I used Angostura instead of what they had) and a dash of chocolate bitters (Xocolatl Mole there). Another version with the same name sounds good: eight parts mezcal, two parts sweet vermouth, two parts Cynar and one part Maraschino.

Elsewhere, while trying to figure out what to do with lychee liqueur, I found this Dusky Hummingbird cocktail that someone created: three parts mezcal, one part agave syrup, one part lime juice, one part lychee liqueur and three dashes of absinthe. This was good, though it will still take for-fucking-ever to get through this bottle of lychee liqueur.

In Which The Smarter Among Us Figures Out What We Drank

(In other words, not me.) We tried this drink called the Perique Swizzle at this cocktail place nearby which was interesting and good (interesting *and* good is always good), then tried to replicate it at home: two ounces rum, 1.5 ounce mezcal, .5 ounce falernum, .5 ounce amaro (they used sfumato rabarbaro; we tried both cynar and amaro ciociaro, the latter being better), a pinch of salt and some crushed mint leaves. As the name evokes, the original was a variation on a swizzle, which is Caribbean using rum, falernum and juices. Go easy on the salt: the bartender at the Last Word called it a “salt brine” and indeed there’s a thin line between delicate oyster liquor and a snoutful of Labor Day surf.

Not Quite Mortal But Pretty Good, Nonetheless . . .

Here’s a cocktail that tastes like a lot of things, but which is solid (and I don’t care if it’s too clever by half): the Venial Sin (Mr. Boston, page 145) is six parts blanco tequila, two parts yellow Chartreuse (substituted Strega), one part Elderflower liqueur, one part maraschino and two parts mezcal.

Strega Anagram: “Greats”

I avoided getting a bottle of Strega because it looked expensive, but if you only use a 1/4 ounce or a 1/2 ounce at a time, it’s not that big a deal, right? Anyway, so the other day I just got a bottle and tried hard not to do the math (it wasn’t bad, actually: $35 or something). [Edit: this was from March 25 at 12:47 a.m.; meaningless gibberish deleted.]

Been using it a lot lately [writing this as of 5/12/16] and I can’t remember a whole lot about it other than someone someplace suggested substituting it for Yellow Chartreuse, which I definitely did because Yellow Chartreuse is definitely more expensive.

Tonight I happened upon this cocktail in the course of trying to figure out what we were served at Flatbush Farm last Monday; I’m pretty sure it was sort of like a The Last Word but with mezcal instead of gin or whatever they normally use (a recipe is here but we didn’t have a pepper in it).

Anyway, this cocktail has two parts mezcal, one part Yellow Chartreuse, one part dry vermouth and two dashes grapefruit bitters. I replaced the chartreuse with Strega. This was a good drink. I also want to try the The Last Word soon, too.