The Good Corque

I like thespir.it, though sometimes the recipes seem less than entirely useful. But today I got a recipe for a drink I wanted to try: The Good Cork. One problem though -- it called for Red Breast Irish Whisky. We don't have Red Breast, and I wasn't sure what would make a good substitution for a single malt Irish Whiskey. I thought about bourbon, but I eventually decided on brandy. My wife made a similar cocktail, but subbed in scotch. We both liked mine better, but disagreed on whether it was because mine was less sweet or more sweet.

I like this drink both because it's tasty, and because it admits easily of substitutions. You could easily use any brown liquor instead of the Irish Whiskey,  and any herbal liqueur instead of the Benedictine. (I think Green Chartreuse might be especially interesting). The mezcal in this version gives it a smoky backbone, while the brandy lends a nice sweetness to balance the smoke. Recipe after the jump.

Mexican Manhattan

As part of my never-ending quest to find more uses for a bottle of mezcal, I decided to add some to a Manhattan and see what happens. Given the spicy smokiness of the mezcal, I used Punt e Mes to provide a bit more sauciness; I figured Dolin Rouge wouldn't stand up to the mezcal well enough. I also used the traditional rye instead of bourbon. I added Hellfire bitters, because once a drink is this spicy, what's a little more spiciness?

Unsurprisingly, going for the spiciest ingredient at each step makes for a very spicy drink. It blends together very well, each ingredient adding its own thing to the cocktail. There's definitely an underlying sweetness here, with a bit of fruit I didn't expect. It's quite good, though it might be worth trying with bourbon to tone down the sweetness. Recipe after the jump.

Green Bitch

When I first got a bottle of Green Chartreuse, I experimented with it like mad. There's really nothing quite like it, and I wanted to try it in a variety of settings. One of the things I learned is that strong flavors can balance each other out, creating a complex, layered drink. The Green Bitch demonstrates this nicely. Here, the mezcal and Chartreuse balance each other out, so the Cointreau dominates initially with a burst of orange. After that, you get waves of smokiness from the mezcal and herbs from the Chartreuse. It's quite good, though I suppose if I were inclined to tinker, I might decrease the amount of Cointreau so that it's less sweet. Recipe after the jump.

Margarita Town

The plight of the Margarita may be unequaled in the cocktail world. Only the Old Fashioned rivals it in the injustice typically done to a tasty beverage. At its base, the Margarita is a type of sour, like the Sidecar, a blend of a spirit, lime juice, and a sweetener. But all too often, it's served as if it were some sort of alcoholic smoothie, with sour mix, triple sec, and copious amounts of sugar adulterating an easy drink. (At least we can be glad it's usually corrupted with just one type of fruit, and not the salad that inhabits many Old Fashioneds). It should be made simply, with Cointreau and fresh lime juice if you have it. Sour mix is right out.

I figured a Margarita would be a good chance to experiment with mezcal and hellfire bitters. It turned out well.  I'm not sure the amount of mezcal in here made much of a difference; it seemed overpowered by the lime juice. The hellfire bitters, on the other hand, made an excellent addition. They made the drink a bit spicier, though not overwhelmingly so. If you don't have hellfire bitters, orange bitters would be a good choice. Recipe after the jump.

Mexican Monk

I brought some mezcal home from Mexico with me, and thought I should try it in something other than a margarita. It naturally mixes well with tequila, but that can be a pretty harsh drink, even if you have decent agave products, so it can help to add something sweet. This is usually honey, or agave nectar if you want to stick with the agave theme. But I have a bottle of Benedictine laying around that I don't use much, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

It was pretty tasty. The Benedictine did a nice job of balancing out the harshness of the mezcal, while the mezcal was still able to contribute it's characteristic smokiness. I might add a different type of bitters next time, since I think the hopped grapefruit gets overpowered here. Recipe after the jump.