palmetto bug

1 1/2 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
3/4 oz Drambuie
1 1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass with a salt rim. Fill with ice cubes, top with 1 oz soda water, and add a straw.

As I was drinking my Newmarket Swizzle at the Hawthorne, Boston's Drambuie rep Tara showed up and sat next to us. She asked if she could treat Andrea and me to a Palmetto Bug. Tara traced the recipe to Sylvain in New Orleans where a bartender made a mezcal Paloma. Once back in Boston, Tara asked bartender Jen Harvey at Zócalo to tinker with it, and soon the Palmetto Bug was born. Hawthorne bartender Katie Emmerson soon set to work crafting three of these Highballs.
The mezcal's smokey agave notes mingled with the Drambuie's honey aroma on the nose. A crisp, carbonated sip contained the grapefruit and lime flavors. Next, the swallow was a combination of smoky mezcal and Drambuie's Scotch notes. Indeed, the mezcal-Drambuie combination worked well here as it has in Eastern Standard's Proclaimer and my Crush on a Bartender.