Episode 101

Featured Cocktail: Last Of The Oaxacans

This week’s featured cocktail is the Last of the Oaxacans, which is a riff on The Last Word cocktail using smoky, intriguing mezcal.

To make it, you’ll need:

• 1 oz Mezcal

• 1 oz Green Chartreuse

• 1 oz Maraschino Liqueur – Luxardo’s is the most commonly available

• 1 oz fresh lime juice

Since this is a citrusy drink, we want to combine all these ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake for about 15-20 seconds until it’s well mixed and chilled, and strain into a stemmed cocktail glass. For a garnish, there’s no standard accepted option for this drink, so I like to play around a little bit and add a splash of color that really pops against the eerie green color of the cocktail. I find that a nice, dark brandied cherry is a great option, and a nod to the maraschino liqueur, but a thin ribbon of grapefruit peel could also be a really nice touch.

One thing to note about The Last of the Oaxacans is that it’s an equal parts or “perfect ratio” cocktail. This means that if you want to dial back the ingredient measures from 1 oz to ¾ oz for any reason, it’s really not going to affect the balance of the drink. This comes in handy if you find yourself using smaller vintage cocktail glasses that don’t tend to hold as much liquid as modern styles.