Salt-n-Pepa
Everyone is well aware of the wonders salt does for food and the rim of your margarita glass! After the release of our Smoked Flake we wanted to delve further into the world of the cocktail. Beyond the margarita rim. We've been well-inspired by our friends at Bittermilk and have decided to experiment for a few months with a variety of cocktails! Yes, those notes of oak and sweet, sweet bourbon you might pick up from our Smoked Flake can also be found in their Old-Fashioned Number 1, because we use the same barrels after Bittermilk bottles their fixins.
For the next few months we'll be posting a couple recipes for cocktails using our Smoked Flake! We've given away a couple samples to bartenders around the states and many have welcomed the idea of crafting a cocktail or tweaking a recipe to fit the salt! If you like what you see, please feel free to share the recipes and let us know your thoughts!
Our first cocktail comes to us all the way from Brooooooklynnnn, New Yorrrkkk! Stephen Palahach (@SPalahach) is a drink writer and bartender working at Jack the Horse Tavern on the corner of Cranberry and Hicks. He is a punch bowl of drinking knowledge and writes for the Mason Jar by Shindig, check out some of his writing here!
Salt-n-Pepa
Ingredients
1.5 ounces Vida Mezcal
.75 ounces fresh lime juice
.75 ounces red bell pepper syrup*
.5 ounces Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
4 slices cucumber
Large pinch Bourbon Barrel Smoked Flake
*Red Pepper Syrup:
To make the red bell pepper syrup, boil a quart of water in a saucepan and stir in a quart of sugar. Add a whole chopped red bell pepper to the pan. Using a blender, puree the mixture well. Strain the contents into a nonreactive container and allow to cool before using.
Recipe
Use a muddler to lightly pound the cucumber slices in a boston shaker tin. Add all other ingredients, plenty of ice, and shake vigorously. Use a fine strainer to double strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with soda water.
Garnish with a stack of skewered cucumber slices topped with a little smoked salt.
(Note: We forgot the skewer, so we shoved the cucumbers into the glass.)
