bone crusher

2 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple or Turbinado Sugar Syrup (Cane Crystal Sugar Syrup)
2-3 dash Tabasco Sauce (a nickle-sided squeeze of Sriracha Hot Sauce)

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and no garnish needed (I opted for a floated lime wheel).

Two Tuesdays ago, I attended a Cinco de Mayo Zoom session featuring Boston alumni John Gertsen and Cali Gold making mezcal drinks. For a recipe, they selected the Bone Crusher which was a cocktail created as a group effort at Drink circa late 2008; Gertsen's frequent claim of "group effort" could either be an emphasis on bar team over individual or the fact that the initial concept was lost to the haze of barroom vapors. Their Bone Crusher was a riff on David Wondrich's rye-based Bone that he created circa 2003 for the Chickenbone Café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Wondrich's goal was to make something rugged and affordable, and the New York Times related how, "Mr. Wondrich said that he got the idea for rye whiskey dosed with Tabasco sauce from a book of hard-luck stories, 'Tales of the Ex-Tanks,' which purports to be the 'minutes' of the Harlem Club of Former Alcoholic Degenerates, written by Clarence Louis Cullen, a New York Sun reporter, and published in 1900." The recipe for the Bone was two ounces of Wild Turkey Rye, a teaspoon each of lime juice and simple syrup, and 2-3 dashes Tabasco sauce that was shaken and strained into a tall shot glass for $6.
I was making dinner and enjoying a cooking beer during the Zoom session, so I made my Bone Crusher an hour or so later. I had probably avoided ordering one at Drink since I generally do no care for spicy cocktails; however, I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable this one was given its delightful pepper flavor and balanced heat level. Things started off with a smoky and savory vegetal aroma. Next, lime mingled with more of those vegetal notes on the sip, and the swallow donated mezcal flavors along with pepper fruit and heat.