Original Recipe: The Smoked Pearl

Last weekend fall truly came to the District:  leaves are finally turning, temperatures are dipping, and to mark the transition we were visited by a heavy rainfall on Sunday.  It’s the perfect occasion for a new cocktail, and for a shift in thinking toward ingredients befitting the new season.

Maple and fire were the first two that popped in my mind, reflecting two of the better parts of fall:  maple leaves and roaring fires.  Not to be combined in a woodland setting, I suppose, but in a shaken cocktail – using maple syrup, mezcal (smoke) and poblano liqueur (heat) as proxies – I thought they would play very nicely together.

And they did.  I combined those ingredients with lemon juice, added ice, and shook, and out came this beauty:

A post shared by Geoffrey Wyatt (@capitalcocktails) on Oct 29, 2017 at 2:26pm PDT

It was absolutely delicious.  The smokiness, spiciness and tangy sweetness produced a satisfyingly complex flavor profile – with the smoke and spice providing some heft, cushioned slightly by the maple syrup.  I settled on the “Smoked Pearl” name because the drink’s ingredients somewhat resemble those of a margarita, which means pearl in various languages, and because of the smoky flavor.

Update:  After I first posted this recipe I came across Tippleman’s smoked maple syrup for the first time.  It takes this recipe to another level, amplifying the smoky goodness of the mezcal.  (It also works very well on waffles, French toast, and pancakes.)

Here’s the recipe:

Enjoy!

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Smoked Pearl

Try the Smoked Pearl, an original cocktail recipe perfect for fall with flavors of maple syrup, smoke, spice and citrus.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 250kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. mezcal I used El Silencio
• 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
• 1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. maple syrup
• 1 fresh lemon

Instructions

• Prepare a rocks glass with one large ice cube.
• Combine ingredients in a shaking tin and add ice.
• Shake ingredients vigorously and strain into the glass.
• Garnish with a burnt lemon wheel.