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I used a smoking gun to smoke a big batch of Manhattans for a party, and it was so dark and delicious. I love using an Erlenmeyer flask for this; pouring the drink from it with the smoke looks like a science experiment and gets a good laugh.

We cooked a bunch of Trinidadian food last night for a party and so I wanted to do something rum-based and citrusy to compliment the spicy main (doubles, if you’re curious). This fit the bill! Super bright and flavorful. It’s supposed be served in a tall, clear glass with a red sherry floated, but I only had a lighter sherry and wanted to use my pineapple glasses ¯_(ツ)_/¯ This recipe is from Smuggler’s Cove.

• 1 ½ oz lemon juice
• 1 ½ oz orange juice
• ½ oz orgeat
• 1 oz pisco
• ½ oz gin
• 2 oz blended lightly-aged rum
• ½ oz oloroso sherry
• 1 mint sprig

Flash blend all ingredients except the sherry and mint with 12oz crushed ice. Pour into a Zombie glass or Fug Cutter mug and float the sherry, then garnish with a mint sprig.

Here’s one I hadn’t tried from Employees Only in NYC. So simple and so good! I love mezcal and pineapple together. I didn’t mess with honey-pineapple syrup, I used half the quantity of a Demerara simple syrup I had on hand instead and poured the pineapple a little heavy. Delicious!

• 1 ¾ oz Del Maguey Vida mezcal
• 1 oz honey-pineapple syrup
• ¾ oz pineapple juice
• ½ oz lime juice
• 3 dashes Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub

Combine ingredients in a shaker tin with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a cocktail coupe. Sprinkle a small amount of pink peppercorn on top of the drink.

A really delightful equal-parts recipe from The Garret in NYC, presumably it’s a play on The White Lady or The Pink Lady? This is certainly the most recent of the three, and wow, it’s so great… where has it been all my life??

• 1 ½ oz mezcal
• 1 ½ oz Aperol
• 1 ½ oz John. D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum liqueur
• 1 ½ oz lime juice

Here’s a classic Nick & Nora, alcohol forward and some bitterness from the Fernet, but the two vermouths balance it out.

• 2 oz Fords gin
• ½ oz Contratto Americano rosso vermouth
• ½ oz Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
• ¼ oz Fernet Branca
• garnish: lemon twist

Stir with ice and strain into a glass; garnish with the lemon twist.

Here’s a little Manhattan-adjacent drink I whipped up yesterday, sort of inspired by one I had at a restaurant long ago:

• 2oz Forty Creek whisky
• 1/3 oz Barolo Chinato sweet wine
• 1/3 oz Strega
• 2 dashes Sichuan peppercorn bitters

I like it a lot! Between the spice and the Strega, there was a lot going on, and the Forty Creek has its own bit of spice to join the party. I made a batch of two, so the 1/3 oz measures were actually 3/4 oz ¯_(ツ)_/¯

We went to a cider pressing party at a friend’s farm last weekend, so I threw this together tonight. Really nice lil thing; I love the allspice dram, and its dark, almost bitter flavor is beautifully balanced by the cider.

• 2 oz blended scotch
• ½ oz Punt e Mes sweet vermouth
• ¼ oz St. Elizabeth allspice dram
• 3 oz apple cider

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a glass over ice.

Here’s Maggie Smith, from Death & Co. As written, I found it a little sweet, so I made a variant after with dark rum, no honey syrup, and added aquafaba, that I found to be, personally, more palatable.

• 1 ounce pisco
• 1 ounce white rum
• ½ ounce orange liqueur
• ¾ ounce lime juice
• ¼ ounce orgeat
• 1 teaspoon honey syrup

This one is from PDT’s cocktail book. Of the “all-alcohol” drinks I’ve made, this has ended up being one of the more approachable ones. It has an aggressive nose from the Fernet, but a lot of the taste’s edge is tempered by the Grand Marnier. It’s still a heavy hitter, but I liked it a lot!

• 2 oz Linie Aquavit
• ¾ oz Grand Marnier
• ½ oz Nonino Quintessentia Amaro
• Fernet Branca rinse

Stir with ice and strain into a Fernet Branca-rinsed glass.

• 1 ½ oz mezcal Cupreata
• ¾ oz sloe gin
• ¾ oz Cynar

Stir with ice and strain into a Nick & Nora glass.

On the tin, it seems like this would be way too much, between the aggressive smokiness of the mezcal and the herbal bitterness of the Cynar, but the fruit in the slow gin is enough to balance all that out. It’s still pretty spirit-forward, but super palatable.

This is lovely, and pretty much right what it says on the tin. Delicious! The smokiness of the mezcal goes nicely with the flamed orange twist.

• 1 oz mezcal
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• flamed orange twist garnish

Stir with ice, strain into the glass, then flame the orange twist over the cocktail and discard the orange.

This is one I saw linked on a punch article that @rbwells posted last week, from Daisuke Ito. It’s simple, elegant, and the scotch balances nicely with Bénédictine. I would have this again!

• 1 oz scotch
• 1/2 oz Bénédictine
• 1/2 oz lemon juice

This quantity was good in a Nick and Nora, but I’d double it for a coupe next time.