Negronis From the Archives, Day 3: The Scorched Earth

A hotter, spicier, more peppery take on the Mezcal Negroni.

Another day, another Negroni. Our week of Negronis continues.

The third entry in this series looks a lot like the second. It’s the Scorched Earth, and like last night’s Midnight Marauder, it’s an easy, equal-parts Mezcal Negroni variation with Cynar and a dash of unusual Bittermens bitters, Bittermens Hellfire Habanero. (Also, there’s some Campari. It is, after all, a Negroni.)¹²

And yet, despite the many similarities with last night’s drink, it’s wildly different in character.

Instead of a silky, rich, Manhattan-style drink served up, this is a zesty, lively, rambunctious drink with a fair amount of heat, served over a large piece of ice, with a wide strip of grapefruit peel for garnish. If you like chips and salsa, this is the Negroni variation for you.

I intentionally ran this recipe right after last night’s drink in order to highlight the similar ingredients and structure: The world of cocktails is populated by drinks defined by small variations. But those small variations can make a huge difference.

The switch from Bonal to Campari is probably the one you will focus on. This swap obviously makes a significant difference, adding bittersweet citrus notes to the mix.

But the real power of this drink comes from the Hellfire bitters (technically a shrub), which give the drink its firey, lightly chili-pepper-ish character.

Don’t discount the grapefruit peel garnish, either: A fat strip of grapefruit twisted over the drink, then dropped into the glass enhances the visual appeal while giving the nose of the cocktail a pop of funky citrus oil.

Drinking the Midnight Marauder and the Scorched Earth back to back is a little like meeting two siblings who have many similar physical features but markedly different personalities. These two drinks obviously share a certain DNA, a lineage, a background, a parentage, if you will. But they are also individuals with their own distinctive characters.

Part of the goal of this week-long series is to explore the truly astonishing variety of Negroni-style drinks.

What these two drinks also demonstrate is how much they can differ even within sub-categories, like Cynar-involved variations on the Mezcal Negroni. It’s not only that the Negroni contains multitudes — it’s that the Mezcal Negroni contains yet more multitudes within it.

Scorched Earth

• 5 drops Bittermens Hellfire Habenero

• 1 ounce Cynar

• 1 ounce Campari

• 1 ounce mezcal (Del Maguey Vida) 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. 

2. Add ice, then stir briefly. 

3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large piece of ice. 

4. Garnish with a strip of grapefruit peel. 

A Large Dog Who Enjoys a Porch

1. If you look around, you will find recipes for this drink that call for maple bitters and/or orange bitters. Try them if you like; I have no strong objection to their inclusion. However, I find the drink slightly more focused and more coherent without the clutter of multiple types of bitters.

2. Some recipes also totally omit the Bittermens Hellfire. That…is wrong. It’s not a bad or broken drink without the Hellfire, but it’s flat and boring in comparison. The Hellfire is what lifts this drink, giving it the salsa-like heat that makes it so interesting. They’re essential to the drink. If you can’t find Bittermens Hellfire, Hella makes a Smoked Chili Bitters that works well as a substitute.