Mexico City Blues

Name: Mexico City Blues
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 cocktail
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 2 dash Angostura Bitters; 15 ml Bénédictine; 15 ml Braulio; 23 ml Mezcal; 23 ml Gin; 15 ml Sweet Vermouth

Stirred and herbal: gin and mezcal share the base with sweet vermouth, Bénédictine and bitter Braulio, while Angostura bitters add spice. Created by Frederic Yarm in 2025.

Frederic Yarm of Boston developed the Mexico City Blues in 2025, starting from a memory of a mezcal and gin pairing that worked well on a visit to Oaxaca in January 2023, where juniper trees grew among the agave fields. After Gracias a Dios Agave Gin turned up at the creator's workplace a few months later, the recipe took shape using the Kerouac and Thieves in the Night as models, starting with a Big Spender-style ratio that lacked depth, then sweet vermouth, and finally Punt e Mes to bring it together. The name comes from a work by Jack Kerouac.

Method

Stirred

Glass

rocks

Difficulty

Hard

Flavor Profile

Bitter

Dry

Herbal

Smoky

Strong