This is a quick note to add one inspiring mezcal cocktail to last week’s post:

My wife and I went into the restaurant Up the Creek in Vail for a date night on Monday.  Our intention was to stop in and have a drink before we went for Sushi.  Now Vail is not a well-known mezcal mecca, but you are starting to see some mezcals around town:  Del Maguey, Sombra, Ilegal, and even one rare Mezcalero sighting at Vin 48 in Avon.

Behind the bar, we spied a bottle of Ilegal Reposado and they even had an associated mezcal cocktail on the drinks list!  Things were looking Up (the Creek)!  We began chatting with the bar manager, Wes Cole, and quickly figured out he had some serious mixology cred.  I asked him what he was making with the Ilegal Repo, and I was soon drinking this gem:

The Ilegal Serrano

• 2oz Ilegal Reposado
• 1.5oz fresh lime
• 1.25oz Serrano simple syrup
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Just mix it up and serve over ice.  To make the simple syrup, Wes explained, he would take 4-5 Serranos, cut them up, and steep them in heated simple syrup for 20 mins or so.  The Serrano simple syrup gives this cocktail just a slight spiciness, which works brilliantly in this drink.  That’s it.  Simple.  Easy.  Elegant.  Freakin’ yummy!

No surprise that our quick stop in for a drink turned into appetizers, drinks, dinner, more drinks, desert, still more drinks and a great evening!  Make this cocktail and you will not be disappointed.  Drink mezcal.