ashtray heart

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1 oz Punt e Mes
1 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass rinsed with a smoky mezcal (Del Maguey Vida). Twist a grapefruit peel over the top and discard.

Last Friday, I read off to Andrea the drinks left in Beta Cocktails that we have the ingredients for but have not made yet, and the one she selected was Erik Ellestad's Ashtray Heart. Erik described on his blog how he wanted a Scotch drink but ended up grabbing a bottle of Smith & Cross instead. To make the drink more Scotch-like, he included a rinse of mezcal to simulate the peat notes in the whisky. My best guess given his musical taste is that he named the drink after Captain Beefheart song title.
The Ashtray Heart's components provided a bounty of aroma; the mezcal and grapefruit went together well at the beginning of the nose. Later, I perceived the Smith & Cross while Andrea detected more of the Punt e Mes. On the palate, the sip offered up Punt e Mes' grape and Smith & Cross' caramel notes, and the swallow showcased the Punt e Mes' bitter complexity and rum's funk. Interestingly, the dark herbal notes at the end reminded Andrea of black olives.