crush on a bartender

1/2 oz Mezcal (Sombra)
1/2 oz Drambuie
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a shot glass pre-rinsed with absinthe (Pernod).

Last week for Thursday Drink Night on Mixoloseum, the theme was "Not Love Just Lust" in anti-honor of the impending Valentine's Day holiday. The event's theme was described as, "Sure Valentine's Day is coming, but let's skip past love and get to a drink that you don't want a relationship with, you just want to have and be done with. A shot, a cocktail with no mixer, something rough and delicious that'll leave you feeling sated and a bit guilty later." For the shot's sweetener, my eyes focused on Drambuie. Since Drambuie works rather well with tequila in drinks like the Kilted Pistolero, I wondered how it would work with mezcal. With lime to dry out the Drambuie and complement the agave spirit, I felt that the drink needed a bit more panache and thus added an absinthe rinse. Andrea was the one who came up with the name; she was perhaps influenced by Brick and Mortar's shooter special entitled "Crush on a Stripper."

The Crush on a Bartender began with an anise nose from the rinse. The sip matched the Drambuie's honey against the lime juice with accents from the absinthe's anise, and the swallow presented the smoky mezcal and tartness from the lime. Overall, I think the shooter fit the theme quite well save for the feeling guilty bit. Well, maybe I felt guilty about using the Yelp swag that I garnered at a Second Glass wine event last year but not for the drink itself.