devil's kitchen

1 oz Mezcal (Banhez)
1 oz Pineapple Rum (Planteray Stiggins Fancy)
1/2 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Crème de Banane (Tempus Fugit)
1/4 oz Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur
2 dash Mole Bitters (Bittermens)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass (*), and garnish with a grapefruit twist.
(*) I originally made this in an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube as seen in the photo below. While there was a nice progression of flavors over time, it started to die when diluted too much. When I mentioned this on Instagram, folks tried it up and replied that they enjoyed it served that way, so I am going with my hunch.Two Fridays ago, I looked over various recipes for ingredients that worked well with Ancho Reyes and decided to create a cocktail. Of the 10 Ancho Reyes drinks on the blog, 7 contain mezcal, 2 with Cynar, 2 with mole bitters, and 1 with banana liqueur; moreover, I figured that pineapple rum would bolster the tropical notes of the banana despite it not having previously been paired with Ancho Reyes in my tasting history. Finally, I dubbed this the Devil's Kitchen after a neighborhood described in the 1933 book The Barbary Coast as a rough one in San Francisco during the latter half of the 19th century. In the glass, the Devil's Kitchen gave forth a grapefruit and vegetal aroma. Next, a caramel-tinged sip opened up into rum, vegetal, smoke, tropical, and chili pepper flavors on the swallow. When I made this on the rocks, the tropical aspect became more defined as pineapple and banana as the ice melted over time.