Recent discussions on Difford’s Guide

Tè Bheag/Cocchi/Lustau

Very easy to drink !

Very Sherry forward, I barely felt the smoked peat from the scotch I used.

As written, this is super sweet. Doubling the lime made it manageable, but its still a fairly strange flavor medley. I wanted to love it, but alas! It was not to be.

Wowee! Love it!
No Centerbe in my booze cart, so took inspiration from Dee S. and substituted 2.5 ml Norseman Olympia (green chartreuse knock-off) and 2.5 ml Malört.

Sfumato is my favorite amaro, so I am rather biased. I have never had any cocktail that features it that I didn't swoon over 🩷

Goes quite well with Pad Thai

Listen. You make a convincing argument, Simon.

Beautifully balanced and complex. A subtle and elegant alternative to a 'big' late night digestivo. We enjoyed it with some Red Leicester.

Sure, but you have to tell us which cocktail you enjoyed prior to posting your exuberant note. Maybe we could all benefit from one of them.

I bet this drink changes a lot depending on the coffee liqueur - I used St George, which is quite dry and serves this drink nicely for my palate

We were a bit sceptical that the Pisco (in our case the BarSol specified in the recipe) would stand up against the liqueurs. But it did. We just added a couple of gentle drops of orange bitters to add to the complexity. Really delicious for us.

The end of season stats sheet never lies. Hae anither shot.

As we teeter on the precipice of civilisation descent, I drink to an autumn of decline and release. Such tasty imbibings as this may not be available in a century, but what we will have we will likely treasure much more. To my fellow freaks and outsiders, HAPPY Pride month, whatever that means to you and yours 🌈🧸💚💛🍁💋✌️. Let the punk roll on 🪐🚀🐐🤷‍♀️🧝‍♀️🍤🏰🐝🌙🎈🌏

On our first sip, this tasted a wee bit unbalanced. By our final sip, we had decided that that is part of its charm. Sometimes a drink benefits from a bold note or two around which the other more subtle notes can dance. Perhaps Ludwig would have approved. Anyway, on a second pass and in that spirit we simply added a barspoon of Lagavulin as a float prior to the lemon garnish. Delicious for us.

Good subtitute on the summer porch to an Aperol Spritz

Does Anders give metric measurements now? Haven’t see him in a few years and remember everything being in ounces.

If you're interested...
https://www.diffordsguide.com/producer/1267/del-maguey-single-village-mezcals/San-Baltazar-Chichicapam
Simon's site is full of great into!

Complex, tart & rich! I try treat as a sipper in order to savor the complexity, but it doesn't last very long regardless.

A cocktail I return to every few years and am always pleased by its exotic combination of aromatics and flavors. What holds it back from becoming a rediscovered classic, along the lines of the Last Word, is the difficulty in getting the balance just right. This is not a drink that can be made to predictable specifications. It requires a culinary approach, tasting and tweaking in the tin until the sweet and tart are in harmony, with the knowledge and experience of what dilution will impart. But it does reward the extra effort, there being nothing else in the cocktail lexicon quite like it.

The last couple of these I made def benefitted from a bit of extra dilution maybe 5-10ml water.

Excellent summer drink. I think Mikes suggestion of adding some curacao could result in an even better cocktail. One only would have to balance the sugar content, maybe be cutting down the orgeat.

Peaches and orange and nothing more.

So much more satisfying than the normal Devil's Margarita. The mezcal's complexity does come through so well.

Feels like a Tequila Sour with red wine. Should be called Nuevo York instead.

Was not a fan. I find that Bourbon Manhattans have this intense spirituosness that is rather unappealing and for some reason, it comes through too much here.