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Cocktail stories: Salt N Pepper, Handshake Speakeasy
Mexico’s Handshake Speakeasy has given a kick and a twist to the country’s signature long cocktail, the Paloma.
*This feature was originally published in the June 2024 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
Move over Margarita, it’s Paloma’s time in the sun. Perhaps lesser-known, and sometimes seen as Mexico’s number-two tipple, the country’s iconic long drink is having a moment of its own right now, as its popularity sparkles in the US, Europe and the UK.
Unsurprisingly then at Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City, it’s a best-seller too, by volume one of the most popular cocktails in the bar’s line-up.
Having recently been named number one on North America’s 50 Best Bars list, Handshake, like the Paloma, has also attracted its fair share of attention, so you could say the two are evenly matched.
The team’s take on the drink is built with mezcal, which the bar’s co-owner, Eric van Beek, opted for over Tequila for its smoky notes and because it goes well with bell peppers. Van Beek credits another member of his team, for coming up with the initial idea, though, Yiyi Aparicio, who worked on the cocktail for a few days. “I just balanced it out and decided on the presentation”, van Beek says. “The way we present it is very minimalistic, but very flavour-forward. That is what our drinks programme is very much about.”
Handshake’s Paloma has touches of Mexican cuisine to it, as it is paired with strawberry, yellow bell pepper, and habanero. The mezcal (Lost Explorer is used) is infused with strawberry, and rested for 24 hours. From there, van Beek says the process is to slow-cook yellow bell peppers with wood, water, citric acid and sugar – strain those and cool. The addition of yellow bell pepper “felt like an odd choice at first, but when the team put it together it tasted amazing”, van Beek says.“It was just one of those ‘eureka’ moments like the light bulb went on – the feeling was ‘yeah, this is something we have put on the menu’. There wasn’t a lot of thought process behind it in the beginning. It was just one of those times that you get lucky.”
The final product brings fresh, fruity, vegetal spicy flavours. Flavour above all, for van Beek, is key to any cocktail’s success. “It’s very important that the flavour is good – whatever happens after that, then we can work on the presentation, the smell and all that stuff. But the flavour needs to be good first.” It’s also highly thirst quenching, so repeat orders are the norm. “Usually three to four rounds,” he says.
Salt N Pepper
Ingredients
30ml Strawberry-infused mezcal*
90ml Yellow bell pepper soda†
3 dashes Habanero tincture
*Strawberry mezcal
500g Mezcal
250g Chopped fresh strawberries
Method
Infuse overnight, strain and then filter through coffee filter paper.
*Yellow bell pepper soda
800g Water
120g Sugar
350g Chopped yellow bell pepper
8g Citric acid
Method
Mix everything together in a vacuum bag, cook sous vide for two hours at 55˚C, strain and filter through a coffee filter. Chill it down in the fridge for two hours and carbonate three times at 55psi.
Final method
Cover one side of a Highball glass with bell pepper powder for garnish. Build ingredients in the glass with ice, then serve.
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