La Joya (Del Sulmiller)
Recipe:
Original La Joya:
- 45ml mezcal
- 22.5ml Chartreuse Verte
- 22.5ml P.X. sherry
- 6 dashes Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit bitters
My adaptation, La Joya Del Sulmiller:
- 50ml mezcal
- 25ml P.X. sherry
- 20ml Chartreuse M.O.F.
- 4 dashes grapefruit bitters
- 2 dashes Bonpland Stevnsbaer Cherry & Pinot Noir bitters (or other cherry bitters)
For both: Stir everything on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled cocktail glass. No garnish.
Since I liked the potential and the combination of ingredients of the drink already while reading the recipe for the first time, here again an adapted, slightly expanded version. The La Joya is a solid drink, to me only the Chartreuse Verte comes through a bit too much, reminds me with the citrusy bitters in the drink almost of a Last Word, only more medicinal, sweet and boozy. For me it doesn't fit the name and actual original drink (Bijou).
Ergo, I wanted to make it more elegant. Since I generally in 80-90% of cases now replace Verte (and often Jaune) with M.O.F. (only a few sours are the exception), I used it this time too and reduced the ratio a bit. The sherry on the other hand was further deepened and accentuated with the Pinot Noir and Cherry bitters, nevertheless, the slight freshness kick of the grapefruit bitters was kept too.
A wonderfully elegant yet earthy combo with subtle sweetness, without ever becoming sticky. In fact, one of my top 5 mezcal drinks mixed in the home bar so far. It manages to pull exactly the best out of all 3 main ingredients and also the bitters in the adapted version, in my opinion.
Source (original "La Joya"): Joe Robinson, The Standby, Detroit, USA
