Cocktails are Easy

I took a business trip to New York this week - seems like a nice burg. On the advice of a friend, I went down to the lower East Side to WD-50 for a nice deconstructed meal. As a solo diner, I sat at the bar and got to watch the maestros in action. I had a cocktail called "Check the Weather" (it was raining out, I thought it appropriate). It comprised:

• Mezcal (probably Mont Alban, though I couldn't see the label)
• Jackfruit juice
• Campari 
• Lime

It was served up in a sours glass that was a little wider at the base - that concentrated the elusive odor of jackfruit (sometime described as strawberry banana) and smoke of the mezcal.

Mezcal is one of my current favorites, and it isn't easy to get. Like tequila, it is made from the agave, but the pinas are smoked instead of steamed, giving it a flavor like peaty scotch.

But that's not what I came here to write about. No, what I wanted to say is that it's easy to make delicious cocktails. A few good ingredients, a little guesswork, a great drink. If it doesn't work, tinker a little. If it does work, change it all around, it'll probably still be great.

I wanted to make Singapore Slings for a friend, but it turned out we were low in gin. She doesn't like gin anyway. Besides, I don't have any Benedictine. But she does have some chili infused tequila - well, chilies and pineapple go great together. So:

• 1 shot chili-infused tequila
• 1 oz. lime
• 1 oz. kirsch
• 1 shot pineapple juice

Shake and serve over ice in a highball glass.

I haven't named this drink because I'm not done with it. I've tried it with triple sec instead of kirsch. I've doubled the juice and served it in a pint. I used mango juice when the pineapple ran out. I've tried it with regular tequila instead of infused (that's the Mango Margarita). They're all good.

Now, I'm not saying that the guys at WD-50 can't top my simple cocktail riffs. They took some chances with mezcal and they had a lot of cocktails featuring sake, which can be hard to work with. I know - I almost killed myself trying to perfect the tequila-sake martini. But it isn't hard to make a creative cocktail - if it has booze, people will love it.

In conclusion, I wonder how a mezcal-sake martini would work?