Silver Monk (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

It's no secret that cucumber and mint makes a tequila cocktail amazing. Death & Co. has no fewer than three cucumber and tequila recipes, most having some kind of alpine spirit in the mix. Besides Strega, which I wouldn't use in this drink, I rely on Genepy as my alpine spirit stand-in for Chartreuse. It isn't as honeyed as the yellow Chartreuse or as bitter as the Green, but it has a mild flavor that pushes all the right buttons that Chartreuse does without being too recognizable in the way that Benedictine and Strega are. 

This is one of those early 2000s cocktails where the real highlight is the fresh ingredients: the juice, cucumber and mint, that makes this drink memorable.

• 2 cucumber wheels
• 8 mint leaves
• pinch of kosher salt
• 2 oz. blanco tequila (Sauza Hacienda used)
• 3/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse (Dolin Genepy used)
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup

Muddle mint and cucumber in a shaker before adding ice and the remaining ingredients. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe glass. (Garnish pictured is not part of the original recipe but too tempting not to use.)

Cafe Sandinista (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This cocktail is by far the lightest on alcohol of all the fortified wine drinks in the Death & Co. book. That doesn't mean it is light on flavor. There's only a quarter ounce of chile and coffee-infused Campari, but that's enough for it to take over the entire drink. The East India Solera sherry and orange juice really add body to the drink and spread it out across the crushed ice. 

To make the Campari infusion, I simply too three ounces of Campari and crushed one guajillo chili and a teaspoon of ground coffee and infused it for twenty-four hours. Any more than that might be too much, really. Then I strained it out using a coffee filter because it catches all the coffee particles. 

The finishing touch on the drink is grating a fresh coffee bean on top of the crushed ice. It gives the cocktail a nice aroma and prepares you for the bitterness underneath. 

• 1 oz. Lustau East India Solera sherry
• 1/4 oz. chili and coffee infused Campari
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. demerara syrup
• small pinch of kosher salt
• coffee bean garnish

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Short shake and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a few grates from a whole coffee bean. 

Southern Exposure (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Chili pepper in cocktails is pretty commonplace at speakeasy-style bars. Red pepper puree is not--not really, anyway. I've only encountered it at a hotel or two, and everyone has a different method of getting peppers into the cocktail.

Most will infuse bell pepper, but it has no effect on the color. A roasted red pepper simple is delicious, but too sweet to use as a juice and a coloring agent. So red pepper puree it is. Now the recipe in Death & Co. is designed for bar use. They will have you pureeing several peppers in water and straining out the bits. And because they are a bar, they make just this much and then throw it away after a few days if they can't sell it. But for home use, this is very wasteful; and that is why I taking it apart for you so that a home bartender can make these cocktails to order and not overproduce ingredients. It gets expensive and it can be wasteful. 

The solution of making this drink to order is to have half a red bell pepper diced and ready to go. When you start the drink, muddle a tablespoon of pepper chunks in the lime juice and cane sugar. Then complete the drink as directed while double straining to catch the solids. 

Is it good? It's fantastic. Really. Maybe one of the best bell pepper cocktails around. The pinch of salt, an underutilized ingredient, is perfect and ties everything together--the heat, the spice and the sweetness. 

• 1 1/2 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (Sauza blanco used)
• 1/2 oz. mezcal (Del Maguey Vida used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. cane sugar syrup
• 1/2 oz. red bell pepper puree (1 tbsp. diced red bell pepper used)
  
• pinch kosher salt
• Garnish not listed (thin slice of bell pepper pictured)

Muddle diced red bell pepper with cane sugar syrup and lime juice in a shaker tin. Add ice and the remaining ingredients and shake to chill. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass.

El Companero (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Beer cocktails, no matter how they are made, always come across as a little strange. This one is no exception, however; it's very specific ingredients and proportions make this one more of a curiosity than a success. 

It's not surprising that Death & Co. served a beer cocktail based on the classic Canadian Dog's Nose, or a somewhat skewed Chelada. What is surprising is they did it back in 2008! Very few people were putting these ingredients together back then, though most bars had them on hand. And this is no ordinary Bloody Beer redux: the Modelo Negra is clearly signaling a darker color and slightly roasted tasting dry beer; Reposado tequila will add more oak notes with its alcoholic kick, Tabasco chipotle will bring the heat and smoke and lime juice and agave syrup balance the whole thing. 

Does it work? Yes. And for fans of the Cheleda or other beer and savory spirits cocktail drinkers out there, this might be a breakthrough. The cilantro garnish really polishes it off. Celery just wouldn't do, and it is so important to the scent and visual experience that I wouldn't make this drink without it.

• 3/4 oz. reposado tequila (El Jimador reposado tequila used)
• 3/4 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (jalapeno-infused Sauza blanco used)
• 1 tsp. agave nectar
• 1 dash Tabasco chipotle sauce
• pinch kosher salt
  
• 1 cilantro sprig
• Negra Modelo beer
• 1 cilantro sprig garnish

 Shake all ingredients except beer and garnish with 3 ice cubes, then strain into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Top with Negra Modelo and garnish with the cilantro sprig.

Hot Lips (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is perhaps my new favorite mezcal drink. It is so well-balanced: spicy, sweet, salty, tangy. Most unusual of all, it is stirred. Apparently a citrus juice cocktail can be stirred when it is rich enough; pineapple juice and vanilla syrup seem to add a kind of thickness that allows for this unorthodox preparation. You can even see by the color of the liquid above that there isn't the kind of cloudy separation that you'd expect from a drink with juice in it. 

• 3/4 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (Sauza blanco used)
• 3/4 oz. mezcal (Del Maguey Mezcal Vida used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. vanilla syrup
• 1 tsp cane sugar syrup
• kosher salt

Rim a fancy Fizz glass half way by wetting the rim with lime juice and dipping it in a dish of kosher salt. Stir remaining ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and double strain into the glass with a large format ice inside.