the racketeer

1 oz Del Maguey Minero Mezcal (Vida)
1 oz Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse 100)
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Vya)
1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
3 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass with an option rinse of Ardbeg Scotch (Caol Ila 12).

Last Friday, I decided to compare and contrast the 2009 Rogue Cocktails and the 2011 Beta Cocktails books (I left the 2010 'zine intermediary out of the mix) to see what recipes did not make the cut into the most recent edition. One of them was the Racketeer by Stephen Cole of the Violet Hour. The drink features a dual spirit of mezcal and rye, a combination I had only experienced before in Thomas Waugh's Red Ant, and balances the heat with sweet bitter liqueurs and vermouth.
On the Racketeer's nose, I got mainly mezcal whereas Andrea also picked up on the vermouth's grape aroma. The sip was the vermouth's grape combined with the rye's malt, and the swallow presented the Scotch followed by the mezcal. The Racketeer had a rather long finish that I attributed to the Benedictine and Peychaud's Bitters and Andrea attributed to the Yellow Chartreuse.