From old friend RT in Albuquerque this past week –
…we’ve enjoyed your parade of ‘dealing with the family’ cocktails leading up to Thanksgiving. Every family seemingly has their burden to bear in terms of some wild-assed crazy one(s) who shows up to inflict their special brand of torment on the assembled clan. We of course have ours (brother in law), though things went a bit better this year.
My wife’s division at the U held a big retirement dinner in early November for one of her favorite coworkers, a prof with a host of interests, not the least of which was longterm ties to the apple industry in New Mexico and across the Southwest.
Apparently one of his favorite adult beverages was a simple 50/50 mix of good apple juice (fresh if you can) and mezcal over ice. We just made an apple run to one of our favorite orchards up near Santa Fe and served these all day on Thanksgiving to our crowd – it was a huge hit, even brother in law was tamed and happy. The smokey Mezcal dances very nicely with the sweet and tart flavors in the apple juice.
For lack of a cocktail name, at least that we’ve heard, we christened it the Santa Fe Sipper…
We keep hearing nothing but good things about the hard ciders coming out of New Mexico as well; might be time for a run to Santa Fe to lay in a holiday supply.
2 ounces apple juice (try and find some fresh)
2 ounces MezcalGarnish: Apple slice, lemon rind
Pour apple juice and mezcal in equal proportions over ice, give a gentle stir and garnish.
Enjoy.
