No cactus and no flowers in this, but lots of yellow.
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A while back I bought a bottle of Suze Saveur d’autrefois on a whim while trying to expand my palate to include more unique herbal liqueurs, but I found it to be so specific and complex and strong that it was difficult to make anything from it. I gave it to a friend thinking she would appreciate it more than me and have the patience to experiment. As fortune would have it, I was called upon to make cocktails for a Very Important Meeting at her house, so I took it upon myself to try to incorporate the Suze into something that all would enjoy. I found this wacky recipe created at Le Coucou, a fancy shmancy New York French restaurant that included Yellow Chartreuse, which I had also just recently purchased and hadn’t found too many good recipes to explore that didn’t involve gin. All I needed was some Mezcal and the pineapple that my wife bought for the kids and I was good to go (sorry kids).
Unfortunately I had to pre-mix this at home without the Suze, so I was kind of running blind, but I did a little taste test and realized that it was missing something. I doubled the original ¼ oz. pineapple juice (squeezed from fresh pineapple using my lemon squeezer) and added some fresh squeezed orange juice and hoped for the best. Once I was finally able to add the Suze and taste it for real I felt good about my tweaking – a very complex herbal smoky drink had become just a tad more tropical and was a success!
1 oz. Suze Saveur d’autrefois
1 oz. Mezcal
¾ oz. Yellow Chartreuse
¾ oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
½ oz. fresh squeezed pineapple juice
½ oz. fresh squeezed orange juice (my addition)
1 pineapple wedge and leaf for garnish
Shake well with ice, strain and pour into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with pineapple wedge and leaf