The Smoke and Honey — A Mezcal Old Fashioned for October
The Old Fashioned is the most honest cocktail there is — spirit, sweetener, bitters, nothing to hide behind. Made with mezcal instead of bourbon, it becomes something altogether more autumnal: smoky, complex, with a depth that makes it the right drink for a fire-lit evening in October specifically. The smoked rosemary garnish is not decoration. Held briefly over a flame until it smolders and then rested across the glass, it releases a thread of herbal smoke into every sip. Make this once and it becomes a ritual.
Serves 1 · 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS
60ml (2 oz) good reposado or joven mezcal
1 teaspoon raw honey
1 teaspoon warm water
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Large ice cube or sphere
1 strip of orange peel, about 5cm long
1 sprig fresh rosemary
For a mocktail version: substitute 60ml smoky lapsang souchong tea, cooled, for the mezcal; increase honey to 2 teaspoons
METHOD
1. Dissolve the honey in the warm water in the bottom of a rocks glass or mixing glass, stirring until completely liquid. Cold honey will not mix evenly with the other ingredients.
2. Add the mezcal, Angostura bitters, and orange bitters. Add ice and stir slowly for 30 seconds — not shaken, stirred, and with patience. You are chilling and very slightly diluting the drink, which opens the flavors. A properly stirred Old Fashioned tastes better than an improperly stirred one in a way that is immediately apparent.
3. Strain into a rocks glass over a single large ice cube. Large ice melts more slowly than small ice, which matters here — you don't want dilution rushing in.
4. Express the orange peel over the drink: hold the strip of peel skin-side down over the glass and bend it sharply, spraying the citrus oils across the surface of the drink. Run the peel around the rim and drop it in.
5. Light the rosemary sprig briefly with a match or lighter until the tip catches and smolders — just a few seconds. Blow it out and lay it across the top of the glass. The smoke will drift into the drink as you sip. Sit somewhere with good light. October deserves this.
