My first instinct was to use the whiskey as the basis for an Old Fashioned, thinking that the added sweetness (and ice) would be sufficient to offset the smokiness. I whipped up one of those with coffee-infused simple syrup and a mixture of mole bitters and orange bitters (Luxardo cherries seemed out of place in this setting), and took a sip. Nope! The mesquite, much like Robert Baratheon's relentlessly hair-blackening chromosomes, was still overpowering everything.
So, okay. The Del Bac wasn't for sipping and it didn't work in an Old Fashioned. But it's still great stuff! I was determined to find the proper venue for it, and the last remaining option was to use it as a cocktail ingredient. And here's where I confess that -- even though I love cocktails about as much as anyone can, and even though I'm a creative person -- I really don't have much of a track record for inventing drinks. Maybe it's because I don't have the patience. My desire to start putting booze in my stomach usually trumps my interest in tinkering with ingredients and ratios, so if a new creation doesn't work perfectly the first time (and it often doesn't), I'll just dump it out and make something familiar.
In this case, thankfully, I seem to have nailed it right out of the gate (not counting the ill-fated Old Fashioned variation, of course). I'm calling it a Poca Cosa, after the Mexican cafe in Tucson of which Alexis and her sister Ashley are longtime fans (and since the drink itself blends Tucsonian and Mexican ingredients). The mesquite of the Del Bac definitely comes through -- and the mezcal, of course, packs its own brand of smokiness -- but the Ancho Reyes chili liqueur helps to round things out with a combination of sweetness and spice, and the bitters mixture (which I retained from the misbegotten Old Fashioned) adds some nice top notes, or bottom notes, or whatever kind of notes they're supposed to be. Enough rambling; let's get to the recipe.
***
1 oz. Del Bac Mesquite-Smoked Whiskey
1/2 oz. mezcal
1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes chili liqueur
1 dash mole bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a burned orange peel.
***
Some notes:
- Like I said, the Whiskey Del Bac is currently available at the K&L Wines on Sunset and Vine, which is one of my favorite places to go spirit-hunting in L.A. in spite of the fact that (as you'd guess by the name) about 90% of the square footage is devoted to wine. You should be able to find all the rest of the ingredients there, too. And it's a stone's throw from both the ArcLight and Amoeba Music. (If you're in NYC, ask Adam for the best places to go booze shopping!)
- I'm sure it's nothing new, but I just learned that little slit-in-the-citrus-peel trick when Alexis, Ashley and I went to Kettle Black in Silver Lake the other night. Great drinks there, with admirably simple names (I had the Mezcal Cocktail).
- "Poca Cosa" means "little thing" in Spanish and thus makes for an especially apt title for a short cocktail. I wish I could say that was intentional, but I didn't know the translation until after I named it. That's how little Spanish I know, despite being (a) 25% Mexican by birth; (b) the son of a Spanish teacher; and (c) a 16-year resident of Los Angeles. I'll show myself out now.
