The Melisandre

(Formerly published under the working title “Hangar One Chipotle Margarita”)

Dropped by K&L Wines today after work to pick up some good cheap vodka for my umeshu project and couldn’t stop myself from buying several other bottles of new spirits.

In particular, I noticed that Hangar One has rereleased their Chipotle vodka, and I couldn’t resist bringing a bottle home and testing it out right away. Holy shit is this stuff great.

1oz Espolon Tequila Blanco

0.5oz Hangar One Chipotle vodka

0.5oz Triple Sec (the cheap stuff)

1oz fresh lemon juice (from the backyard tree)

0.5oz agave nectar (trader joes)

3 drops Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters

Hard shake everything together with ice while chilling a cocktail glass. Rim the glass with salt (I used some lovely pink flake salt my parents gave me) and strain into the glass.

Hot damn, the grassy, smoky notes of the H1 Chipotle and the tequila balance beautifully with the sour lemon and the sweet chocolate/agave. The perfect drink to celebrate the warming weather, I can see this being a summertime favorite this year. Here’s hoping Hangar One has produced a goodly amount of the Chipotle on this run.

(Named for the smoky, fiery sorceress in A Song of Ice and Fire)