firebreak

1 1/2 oz Mezcal Verde Momento (Peloton de la Muerte)
1/2 oz Estancia Raicilla (Balam)
1/2 oz Giffard Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/2 tsp St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram (Hamilton's)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.Two Fridays ago, I returned to the online flashcard sets for Dear Irving in Manhattan, and there I spotted the Firebreak from their Spring 2021 menu that would finally make use of my dusty bottle of raicilla. Raicilla is a "mezcal" produced in the tequila-centric state of Jalisco, and the quotes around the style are due to the fact that Jalisco is not legally sanctioned to make mezcal. I purchased that small bottle at the Guadalajara airport back in 2016 and was able to smuggle it into my bag of duty-free purchases, and I had only opened it for a taste and never a cocktail. A few years after that trip, Raicilla has become easier to purchase in this country, and thus craft recipes utilizing it began to appear. The Firebreak was essentially an Agave Old Fashioned akin to the Oaxacan Old Fashioned but instead of agave syrup, it was with the sweetener of apricot and allspice liqueurs that I had tried in drinks like the Sass Mouth and Pleasure Island. Once prepared, the Firebreak opened up with a grapefruit, vegetal, apricot, smoke, and allspice bouquet. Next, orchard fruit notes on the sip ignited into vegetal, smoky, apricot, and allspice flavors on the swallow. Indeed, the concept came across like a fruity Oaxacan Old Fashioned.