cortez the killer

2 oz Blanco Tequila (Espolón)
3/4 oz Bonal Gentiane Quina
1/4 oz Crème de Cacao (Marie Brizard)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.

After the Heart's Desire, I was still in the mood for a nightcap. Therefore, I opened up Gary Regan's Annual Manual for Bartenders 2011, and Cortez the Killer from Brent Butler of San Francisco's Blackbird fit the bill. The drink is named after a Neil Young song about the Spanish explorer who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 16 century. With the tribute to the fallen Aztec civilization, Butler selected tequila as the based spirit for this drink. Moreover, Gary Regan mentioned in SFGate that Blackbird serves the drink as a barrel-aged one.
The Cortez the Killer presented a tequila and orange oil aroma that led into a dry grape sip. The swallow offered up a complex bitter tequila flavor that finished with complementing chocolate notes. Indeed, the Bonal worked rather well to accentuate the agave notes in the tequila. Looking back, it is very similar to a mezcal cocktail created by John Gertsen and Misty Kalkofen at Drink; while it was served to me with Bonal, it was originally created with another quinquina, namely Boroli Barolo Chinato.