As a lover of Black Manhattans and the Dolin/Punt e Mes mix that Death and Co uses for their classic Manhattans, I am blown away by this drink. This is one of the most balanced stirred cocktails I have had. I am going to have fun riffing on this one.
This is way more balanced than it appears to be. You get the bass notes of the smoke from the mezcal, a great body in the rum (I used Smith and Cross) and the falernum is the secret star giving it the right amount of sweet. I found a new cocktail for my rotation.