Kiva

• 1.5 oz. Del Maguey Vida mezcal
• 0.5 oz. Leyendas Puebla mezcal
• 0.5 oz. Xila Licor de Agave
• 0.5 oz. pineapple liqueur (Giffard)
• 0.25 oz. smoky and/or peaty Scotch (Talisker Dark Storm)
• 0.25 oz. cinnamon syrup
• dash of Bitters, Old Men Chipotle Single Malt bitters

Stir with ice and strain into coupe.

I had just recently picked up Xila, with its spicy pineapple agave profile, and wanted to try it in a mezcal cocktail. I started with Vida as a base, but found in my finished drink I craved a more distinct mezcal sip so added a half ounce of Leyendas Puebla as well.

Xila is sweet, but not overly, so I added Giffard’s Caribbean Pineapple to enhance what was present in Xila, and the cinnamon syrup brought additional spice and sweetness. The chipotle bitters from Bitters, Old Men tied in with the spice, and I found the peatiness a welcome quality, so boosted this with a bit of Scotch. The result is spicy, sweet, smoky stirred pineapple and agave drink.

A kiva is sunken, round ceremonial chamber in a pueblo. I had believed this to be also the name for the adobe ovens, but looking into it further see nothing supporting that other than captions for a number of online images, which do refer to kiva ovens. Any definition I find for these ovens, however, identifies them as hornos, and ovens never really played a part in structural kiva.

All that said, Kiva made me think of smoke and earth and mezcal, and Horno wasn’t as appealing a name, so there it is. Salud.

Better, Giuseppe?

• 2 oz. Dovetail Florida rum
• 0.5 oz. espresso liqueur (Stirrings)
• 0.25 oz. Cynar
• 0.25 oz. lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into coupe.

The Bitter Giuseppe cocktail is nice low ABV cocktail with a Cynar base, so as you might imagine and as the name implies, it’s rather bitter. I like it, but wanted to riff on it with a reduction of the bitter Cynar, using rum as a base. With less bitter I didn’t require as much lemon to cut it, but there did need to be some sweetness added. The Stirrings espresso liqueur, which I bought years ago and have never seen since, has a nice sweet and bitter balance that fit well.

Well, I don’t know about Giuseppe, but I like it better.

Plum the Depths

• 1.5 oz. London Dry gin
• 0.75 oz. Edinburgh Gin Rhubarb & Ginger liqueur
• 0.5 oz. plum liqueur
• 0.25 oz. Lillet Blanc
• Dash of orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into coupe.

A nice, sweet yet subtle tipple that adds plum to the rhubarb and ginger liqueur with gin as a base. The Lillet brightens the drink and adds a note of bitterness, which the orange bitters enhance.

A plumb line was used to measure ocean depths by sailors, and it seemed a shame not to take advantage of a good (bad?) pun. Perhaps I should have waited for a plum tiki drink, but that ship has now sailed.

Let’s Be Seville

• 1.0 oz. Tanqueray Sevilla Orange gin
• 1.0 oz. Tanqueray London Dry
• 0.5 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 0.25 oz. creme de noyaux (Tempus Fugit)
• 0.25 oz. elderflower liqueur (St. Germain)
• Dash of orange bitters (Regan’s)
• 2 drops of lactart

Stir with ice then strain into Nick and Nora.

Just picked up Tanqueray’s latest offering and really enjoyed the citrus addition. I thought almond would pair nicely with the orange, then added a little floral sweetness as well. The Lillet Blanc brought some bitter brightness, joined by the orange bitters. It still needed some acid, but instead of adding some miniscule lemon I opted for the lactart, and that’s all that it needed.

Do I need to explain the name? No, I don’t. Just drink up and enjoy.