As the fall weather starts to creep up in NYC, we are thinking smokey scotch. Enter the Smoking Scorpion at Bodega Negra, a scotch-based cocktail that is prepared tableside by lighting smoked sea salt and mezcal on fire to infuse flavor into the glass.
This cocktail was inspired when Matt Strauss, Managing Partner of TAO Group, spent the holidays at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. There is a cocktail that they serve at The Century Bar where they ignited gun powder to give the glass a smokey flavor.
“I was inspired by the idea of infusing flavor into a glass by lighting something on fire,” Strauss explains.
The beverage team at Bodega Negra came up with the idea to pour mezcal on sea Salt and lighting it on fire.
Add Strauss: “Not only does this create a show, the fragrant smoke adds an interesting flavor to the cocktail.”
Smoking Scorpion Cocktail Recipe
(Batched in a 4oz flask)
- 2 oz Glenmorangie 10 yr
- .75 oz Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth
- .25oz Luxardo
- .25oz Birch Water
- 2 dashes Bokers bitters
Smoking Scorpion cocktail preparation:
Pour 2 oz. of smoked sea salt onto a slate tray with .25oz of Montelobos Mezcal on top. Light the salt line on fire table side, and allow the line to catch entirely
Billow the coupe glass around the flame allowing the inside of the glass to fog and collect the smoke flavor, before putting out the flame by smothering it with the coupe
Pour the batched recipe from the flask into the coupe. Serve table side.
Bodega Negra details
355 W 16th St, New York, NY 10011, (Inside the Dream Hotel)
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