Fire & Brimstone

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (93 ratings)
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    Fire & Brimstone

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Fire & Brimstone image

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
2 slice Red chili pepper (jalapeño/fresno chili (10,000 SHU) deseeded) fine sliced
1 1⁄2 oz Del Maguey Vida Clásico Mezcal
1⁄2 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur infused with Earl Grey tea
2⁄3 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
2 dash Orange Bitters by Angostura
1⁄4 oz Agave syrup
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. MUDDLE chillies in base of shaker.
  4. Add other ingredients and SHAKE with ice.
  5. FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  6. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A refreshing riff on a Mezcal Margarita with enlivening chili heat.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2012 by Kyle Damien at Palmer & Co. in Sydney, Australia.

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Loïc Pierre’s Avatar Loïc Pierre
7th February at 00:45
Nice, but it seems to me that the mezcal is dominating the rest... I prefer the balance of a cocktail ultima palabra.
1
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Simon Sedgley’s Avatar Simon Sedgley
2nd October 2024 at 14:30
Not having any chili peppers to hand, we went instead with a dash of Scrappy's fire tincture. Worked nicely for us.
1
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Simon Sedgley’s Avatar Simon Sedgley
31st October 2024 at 13:55
We serve it in a chilled Coupe Glass. Such an elegant and striking cocktail deserves more than an Old Fashioned Glass.
2
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Nathan Reed’s Avatar Nathan Reed
2nd August 2024 at 08:37
The play between the earthy mezcal and the Earl Grey is perfection. I just made a batch of really strong Earl Grey and added that in rather than making the infusion and it tasted great to me. Dried chilli flakes also worked as a replacement for fresh. While I understand the other comments about using lime instead of lemon it's the lemon here that elevates things for me. Every other tequila / mezcal drink is made using lime so it's a nice surprise here to have something different.
2
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Lee Clarke’s Avatar Lee Clarke
16th July 2023 at 09:22
Hi Simon. I’d be making a couple of these so don’t need a large batch of infused Triple Sec. What would you recommend re process for say 50/100 ml. Simply adding an E.G. Tea bag for a few minutes? Cheers.
1
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
17th July 2023 at 08:30
Hi Lee. Tea infuses so quickly that almost drip in and pall straight out. You'll see the colour leach into the clear liqueur and that's a good guide to the degree of tea infusion.
2
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Enrique Del Rio San pio’s Avatar Enrique Del Rio San pio
15th June 2023 at 12:44
How long do you recommend to infuse the triple sec with tea?? Could also work to infuse some chilis and avoid muddling?
1
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Philip Marsden’s Avatar Philip Marsden
26th June 2021 at 16:41
We substituted the lemon for lime and it gives the drink even more depth and, in our opinion, is an even better combo.
2
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Myxo Gastrid’s Avatar Myxo Gastrid
13th August 2023 at 19:17
Seconding this. Between the mezcal and agave, using lime seemed only natural, and it worked nicely. The original version with lemon has its own thing going on too though.
1
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Timofey Zhitenev’s Avatar Timofey Zhitenev
22nd April 2021 at 21:50
It's a beautiful interplay of smoke, spiciness, and tea notes (spend some time, infuse the triple sec: it's worth it). Orange, lemon, and syrup balance everything perfectly.
However, it's challenging to stay consistent because the amount of pepper is small and a little deviation can make spice disappear or overpower the drink. That's the only issue I had with the cocktail, so try it but beware that it might take a few tries with your pepper to perfect.
3
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Vincent Wolf’s Avatar Vincent Wolf
13th March 2021 at 20:36
It looks like a good cocktail. For info I had all ingredients except Red Jalapeno. I replaced it with bird's eye chile which is 50,000-100,000 SHU. It's drinkable but the chili is overpowering the drinks and I only put 1 tiny little slice. In case you feel like trying you know what you'll get ;)
3
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glen ingram’s Avatar glen ingram
11th January 2021 at 05:14
a surprise in every sip
4
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Tom Camp’s Avatar Tom Camp
31st December 2020 at 21:34
This cocktail is a winner! The combination of the sour and the spicy is fantastic!
1
reply
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