Marley’s Malediction

My sister challenged me to make 3 “A Christmas Carol” themed Cocktails. This is #3: Marley’s Malediction

The ghost was entwined by the chains he’d forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. “You wear such chains yourself,” Marley warned, and foretold the coming of three spirits.

Tonight, you’ll be visited by only ONE spirit: this bitter sweet take on a mezcal old fashioned that conflates past, present, and future. Watch the bitters bleed slowly into the icy depths of this crisp, cold concoction, drift through its smoky mysteries, and snap back to reality as the potent spice of star anise and sharp notes of citrus dance across your palate. There’s something inexplicably grave about this cocktail.

Take heed, sip slowly, or else be cursed by the chains you’ve forged in life, and by “the chains you’ve forged in life” I am definitely talking about the hangover you’re gonna have to nurse in the morning if you drink more than two of these. Come on, we’re not in our 20s anymore.

Ingredients (makes 1 cocktail)

• 2oz mezcal (I recommend Montelobos @montelobos Espadin)

• .25oz lime Juice (Santa Cruz Organic @santacruzorganic 100% Pure Lime Juice)

• .25oz water (to cut the lime juice)

• .5oz simple syrup

• 1 orange (for garnish)

• Star anise (for garnish)

• Angostura bitters

• Ice

Instructions

• Add ice, mezcal, lime juice, simple syrup, and water to shaker

• Shake vigorously

• Poor over ice

• Add 3 dashes of bitters on top

• Garnish: Use a vegetable peeler to peel a long thick piece of orange peel, place it in the glass. Add star anise.