Yellow Jacket (modified)

Last Saturday, Alexis and I hosted a wrap party for the short film I wrote and directed, The Spy Who Came to Brunch.  Since we were expecting a lot more guests than my limited bartending skills could possibly handle, we bit the bullet and hired an actual bartender for the evening.  And holy crap, was it ever worth it.  He was a great guy who really knew his stuff (even taught me a better technique for making an Old Fashioned), and it was a lot more fun to not have to run to the kitchen every four minutes when someone needed a refill.

At one point in the evening, I was discussing cocktails with Christian, one of the lead actors, and we started talking about what to do with the bottle of mezcal I had on hand.  He suggested making a Yellow Jacket, which I'd never heard of but definitely found intriguing.  After some quick phone-Googling, we discovered that the drink is actually made with tequila; however, in my humble opinion, there's almost no tequila-based cocktail that can't be improved by substituting mezcal.  So we took our findings to the bartender and asked him to whip us up a couple of modified Yellow Jackets.

The verdict?  Really, really good.  Smoky, sweet, refreshing.  And nicely colored, thanks to the St. Germaine and Yellow Chartreuse.  I was happy to have an excuse to make another one today for the purposes of taking this photo.

Photo by Nick Rheinwald-Jones

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Recipe (courtesy of Serious Eats, modified by Nick & Christian)

2 ounces Mezcal

1 ounce St. Germain

0.75 ounce Yellow Chartreuse

1 dash Orange Bitters

1 lemon twist, for garnish

Combine mezcal, St. Germain, Yellow Chartreuse, and Orange Bitters in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir until cold.  Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with lemon twist.

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Some notes:

- The mezcal I happened to have was Sombra, a low-to-mid-range silver mezcal that's only so-so for sipping but great for cocktails like this one, since the rich smokiness comes through even in small quantities.

- Yellow Chartreuse and its sibling Green Chartreuse are great to have around, but also pretty freakin' expensive (usually $65 for a full bottle).  Fortunately, they're also sold in half-sized bottles for half the price -- and even that size should last you a long while, since most cocktails that use Chartreuse don't call for very much of it.

- A long, spiraled bar spoon for stirring is an essential bartending tool for this and many other drinks, and you can find one at pretty much any well-stocked kitchen store (like Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma) or at BevMo.