A couple of weeks ago Megan at Drink made up a cocktail for one of my friends with “mezcal, black pepper, honey and lemon”. Here is my attempt at recreating it, which I am dubbing “Pepper on Fleek”, as the phrase “On Fleek” is clearly the spiritual descendent of the phrase “The Bees Knees”, which is also the name a the drink this drink is a variant of. The picture here is of the first version I tried, which was tasty enough, but didn’t come out as peppery or smoky as was needed. I’ve included that recipe after the jump for those who might be interested.
2.0 oz Mezcal (Vida) 0.5 oz lemon juice 0.5 oz honey syrup 1.5 ml black pepper tincture Shake and strain Garnish with a lemon twist
This is agressive in a couple of good ways. There’s pepper and lemon on the nose; the sip starts with smoke, transitions into tart lemon, and then finishes with a lingering pepper kick. It’s not super-smooth, but the three different types of sharpness, tied together with the honey works really well to keep you sipping.
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