Last Monday night I made a fully realized, deliberate cocktail for someone else. Since my boyfriend is sober and no one else drinks alcohol in my COVID capsule, this has not happened for a long time.
I also made it with tequila, a ghost I’m pretty sure has been sitting undisturbed on my bar cart for about 14 months. I asked my guest to choose anything they wanted from the shopping cart and that is what they chose, so I used it. The problem, however, is that I ran out of limes – an essential ingredient in many popular tequila-based drinks. Instead of despairing, I combed through old issues of this column until I came across it this 50/50 mix I wrote about Bénédictine and respado tequila a few years ago.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any more Respado tequila either, but the idea of equal parts tequila and a fancy herbal liqueur sounded like a good template, and it was. I replaced the missing Respado with some Herradura silver and swapped Bénédictine for green Chartreuse. Then I added a few dashes of lime bitters, stirred it over ice, and stretched it into a lowball with a large cube. It was good.
Today I decided to take a slightly different approach and shook everything over a large cube and served it. It was good too. The stirred version is silky and denser, while the shaken iteration is lighter and more airy, but both are surprisingly smooth considering how much ethanol they contain – the kind of oak-like, vanilla-colored tequila goes well with any herbal combination these monks use green chartreuse. To do it you will need:
- 1 1/2 ounces of silver tequila
- 1 1/2 ounces of green chartreuse
- 4 dashes of lime bitters
Put everything in a mixing glass or a shaker can. your decision. When stirring, add plenty of cracked ice to the glass. If you are trembling, put a large cube in the jar. Shake or stir to cool completely. Strain for serving in a coupe or over a large cube. Garnish with a strip of lime zest.
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