carlota's collapse

1 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1/2 oz Elderflower Liqueur (St. Elder)
1 oz Punt e Mes
15-21 drop Lemon Juice (approx. 1 scant bsp)
6 dash Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)
1 pinch Salt

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass 1/8th rimmed with salt and with a large ice cube, and garnish with the oil from 3 lemon twists and insert the last peel in.

Two Tuesdays ago, I was thinking about low proof cocktails and looked up The Search for Delicious that Kirk Estopinal created at The Cure and published in Beta Cocktails in 2011. I wanted to do a mashup to pay tribute to this drink, and the Punt e Mes and lemon juice made me consider Misty Kalkofen's Maximilian Affair as a partner. While I could extract the mezcal and elderflower from the Maximilian Affair, I still wanted to keep the low proof nature and surely the baroqueness of The Search with the drops, multiple twists, and salt rim specifications. For a name, I dubbed this one Carlota's Collapse. When Emperor Maximilian ran into trouble with his regime, his wife Carlota traveled to Europe to search for assistance in Paris, Rome, and Vienna. Carlota's search failed which led her to mental breakdown and a refusal to return to Mexico; Maximilian was executed the following year. Here, a little salt to symbolize tears, smoke for destruction, and Cynar for bitterness.
Carlota's Collapse met the nose with lemon, smoke, and dark aromas from the Cynar and Punt e Mes. Next, grape and caramel on the sip reached out to mezcal and floral bitter flavors on the swallow.