the reluctant saint

1 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1 oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
3/4 oz Campari
1/4 oz Crème de Cacao (Tempus Fugit)
1 dash Absinthe (20 drop St. George)

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass with a large cube or into a cocktail coupe (*), and garnish with an orange twist.
(*) The drink seemed to fall apart as it diluted so perhaps a warm drink would be preferable than a wet one over time. The recipe was also based off of a room temperature drink, so perhaps up is best.

Two Fridays ago, I got home from my work shift at Area Four in Boston (I am there on Thursdays and Friday nights and at La Brasa in Somerville on Tuesday and Saturday nights and Sunday brunch) and was in the mood for a cocktail. The day before, I had entered the Ask the Dust into the KindredCocktails database, and the recipe was still on my mind. Here, I took that room temperature Scaffa that I created a little over 5 years ago at Russell House Tavern and moved it closer to a Mezcal Negroni. While the proportions changed, I did remove the Angostura Bitters and added a slug of Campari in its place. For a name, I took the John Fante theme of the inspiration and named it after one of his screen plays, The Reluctant Saint.
The Reluctant Saint welcomed the nose with orange, cherry, and smoke aromas. Next, a dark cherry and grape sip blessed a vegetal agave, chocolate-orange, and quinine-tinged bitter swallow. As the drink diluted over time, the flavors fell apart somewhat so perhaps serving it up (or down) would be better for this combination (especially since it was based off of a room temperature drink).