[pau d'arco]

2 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1/2 oz Honey-Ginger Syrup
3 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters
3 dash Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist and add a straw.

Two Thursdays ago, I met up with Andrea at Rendezvous for dinner. For a drink, bartender Scott Holliday mentioned that he had been tinkering with a Penicillin-like drink but without citrus juice or a second spirit as a rinse. Since it was agave-based, it would be more like a Little Branch though. Instead of a spiced honey Sour, this came across more like an Old Fashioned. For a name, Scott was thinking about riffing off of Penicillin, and I later thought that Pau d'Arco, a botanical cure-all extract that originates in a tree found in Mexico and parts of South America, might work.
The lemon twist's aroma brightened the smokey agave notes and worked well with the honey ones. Next, a honey sip led into the mezcal swallow that faded away into a ginger and chocolate finish.