Sometimes, it’s the little things that matter, like a stone in your shoe or that damn fly that won’t stop buzzing around your face while you’re sweating through a hangover on a hot summer’s day (hint: have a hair of the dog. It won’t deter the fly but it will make you feel better). In the case of the Zapatero cocktail, the little things are the smallest amounts of ingredients – two kinds of bitters and a pinch of top-notch cinnamon – that pack the biggest flavour-punch and pull the drink’s disparate ingredients together into a cohesive, delicious whole. In terms of flavour, it’s a bit like a complex, layered dessert; there’s a hint of baked goods and a note of the heady tropics rounded out by an earthy smokiness and the feeling that you probably shouldn’t be indulging in something quite so decadent on a weekday but to hell with it, you’re going to. If you’re in that mood (and really, who isn’t?), here’s the recipe.
INGREDIENTS
45ml mezcal
15ml bourbon
2 barspoons orgeat
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
GLASS
Old-fashioned glass or tumbler
METHOD
Half-fill a mixing glass with ice. Add all ingredients and stir until mixture is ice-cold.
Strain into an old-fashioned glass that’s half-full of ice.
Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a orange twist.
RECIPE BY
This one’s from our good friends at Liquor.com.