If you're foaming at the mouth for St. Patrick's Day to arrive, we've got a perfect Irish coffee recipe for you today. But if you plan to hole up in some safe room while wild leprechauns terrorize your neighborhood on Saturday, we've still got a perfect Irish coffee recipe for you. Because this one is based on mezcal instead of whiskey. So it works either way. Holiday spirit or not.
The cocktail comes to us from bartender Beau du Bois of Clifton's and the Edison in Downtown LA. He built it off of his olfactory memories of the fermentation process at El Silencio's mezcal palenque (distillery), allowing the spirit's innate notes of tamarind, cocoa, orange, baked spices and cinnamon to mingle with a cardamom-infused coffee and orange cordial. Slainté y salud.
Mezcal Irish Coffee
1 oz El Silencio Espadin
4 oz Cardamom-infused coffee (brew crushed cardamom with the coffee grounds)
1/4 oz Orange cordial
Build in an Irish coffee glass then top with salted cocoa creme (dark cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon). Garnish with a candied orange and cinnamon. Serve hot.
