Sunday, May 10, 2026

jovencourt daiquiri

2 oz Barbancourt White Rhum (110°)
1/4 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida (Fosforo Ensemble)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.
Two Sundays ago, I traveled to the USBG Bar Summit in Philadelphia, so I had three nights of cocktails prepared in advance. The first of these was the Jovencourt Daiquiri invented by Phil Ward at Death & Co. in Manhattan as published in the Death & Co.: Modern Classic Cocktails book. Phil commented, "This cocktail was my first epiphany about using mezcal in a mixed drink," and he noted that while it is very common now, no one was doing it much in 2007 when he created this. Also of note was back then until very recently, the unaged Barbancourt was at a lower strength (86° versus 110°). The concept reminds me of the rhum agricole-mezcal Daiquiri with maple that I crafted called Miracles Take Longer especially given how grassy and funky the unaged Barbancourt is (less so in the 8 Year that I have been more familiar with). Once prepared, the Jovencourt Daiquiri generated a grassy and vegetal funk aroma. Next, a lime-driven sip gave way to grassy, smoky, and vegetal flavors on the swallow with a lime finish.
posted by frederic at 8:00 AM
ingredients: , , ,

2 comments:

Chris B., Santa Fe said...

Thanks for pointing us to a recipe in "Modern Classic Cocktails" we hadn't yet tried. No Barbancourt so I used Neisson Rhum Agricole Blanc, which worked well and matched your description with Barbancourt. The small amount of mezcal amplifies the vegetal character of rhum agricole blanc without taking over the drink. I cut the syrup back to 1/2 oz but used agave syrup as a nod to the mezcal. This made the proportions 9:3:2, slightly less boozy than Difford's go-to 10:3:2 but perhaps re-sweetened a bit by the use of agave syrup instead of powdered sugar.

May 28, 2026 at 12:54 AM
frederic said...

I skipped it since I didn't have unaged Barbancourt, but once they rebranded it at made it at 110° at $18, I grabbed a bottle and finally made this recipe. So much more expressive than the 5 Star/8 Year which isn't very grassy or funky at all. I link to a mezcal-agricole recipe that I crafted in the text that was a bit richer with maple, but this one was all about the interplay of the spirits with each other and with lime.

May 28, 2026 at 9:12 AM

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