Vulcanalia

Inspired by the most recent New York sessions, your intrepid bartender here at Fogged In Lounge went off in search of mezcal, tequila and new tastes to play with via the recently acquired juicer.

Walking into the liquor store, I had to admit that I didn’t know what I was doing, but Sombra mezcal was not prohibitively expensive for cocktails. For tequila, I settled on Hacienda Vieja Reposado since I knew I liked it already and it was reasonable.

At the greengrocer, every piece of produce I saw had the potential to wind up in a cocktail. Having read Rick’s Chartreuse Swizzle post, I was hoping to find a pineapple, but didn’t see one. And I reflected that broccoli and chard, while nutritious, probably wouldn’t lend much excitement to mixed drinks. Settling on a couple of sweet peppers, I headed back to see what could be made of them.

Two average-sized peppers yielded about 6 oz of very bright red juice. The taste was pretty mild, so I chose lemon over lime for some acidity without being too assertive as I felt my way along. And it seemed as good a time as any to play with my new Sardinian bitter honey, so that went in too. Two ounces of pepper juice overwhelmed the other stuff and made the drink too watery. One ounce was about right.



Vulcanalia

• 2 oz reposado tequila
• 1/4 oz mezcal
• 1 oz red sweet pepper juice
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp bitter honey

Dissolve honey in lemon juice. Add remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE