[chipilo]

1 oz Mezcal
1 oz Lustau Oloroso Sherry
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Cynar
1 dash Orange Bitters
1 pinch Salt

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

Two Mondays ago, Andrea and I headed down to Estragon for dinner right before I left to go to Tales of the Cocktail the next morning. For a first drink, I looked in bartender Sahil Mehta's notebook and spotted an unnamed mezcal, sherry, and amaro cocktail that seemed rather intriguing. The original called for Ramazzotti which the bar just ran out of, so Sahil substituted an equivalent amount of Cynar as well as a dash of orange bitters. Indeed, I was definitely curious to see how a pinch of salt here modified the two amari's bitterness.
Lacking a name, I dubbed this one the Chipilo after a city in Puebla, Mexico, that was founded by Italian immigrants in 1882 and still has a large Italian population that speak Venetian dialects. Once in a glass, this offered an orange oil and smoke aroma. Grape and caramel on the sip slid into smoky mezcal, orange, and herbal flavors on the swallow. With the salt, the Campari was more orange than bitter and the Cynar was more herbal than funky vegetal, and the whole balance was a bit more savory.