I love mezcal cocktails. I am not sure about this particular recipe. A few tips (based on my own preference)

  • Orange juice is too watery for my taste, and doesn’t work with a margarita style drink. If you want the drink more orangey, use more triple sec and less syrup, or add some orange bitters. Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled margarita glass or an old fashioned glass on the rocks to keep the drink very cold and high in alcohol/ low on water. That’s what makes the flavor concentrated. Use more lime if you need it more citrusy.
  • if you have any good anejo and reposado tequilas, you can always experiment mixing tequila with mezcal. Like instead of 1.5 mezcal, use 1 reposado tequila and 0.5 mezcal for a more rounded flavor.
  • get some ancho reyes liqueur, it is smokey and spicy, works great in margaritas. You could reduce the triple sec a bit and add 0.5 ancho reyes for a slightly drier and chili infused version.
  • try a few different mezcals, they can be surprisingly smooth and rich tasting. I like Madre Espadin for mixing, it’s not crazy expensive but quite nice.
  • I agree that chamoy and tajin are unnecessary, distasteful, and can only ruin drinks, I wish bars would stop doing it. Rubbing half of the rim with a lime wedge and sprinkling on some flakey serving salt can work nicely, but the point is to save a good portion of the rim for actually drinking the drink.

Cheers!

Naked and famous - shaken with ice served in martini glass with lime garnish. 1 part mezcal 1 part aperol 1 part yellow chartreuse (I’ve had trouble finding it lately) 1 part lime

Sooo good.

Sounds intriguing. I used to have green chartreuse but only used it a couple times, it was quite intense. Never tried yellow. I may try something like mezcal, amaro, vermouth.