The PDT Project: Beer and a Smoke

After a long hard day of work, sometimes all you want is a beer and a smoke. Unfortunately it's no longer possible to enjoy those two pleasures simultaneously if you're in a bar (at least in most American cities), so Jim Meehan of PDT devised a clever way of joining them together in a drink that's aptly named Beer and a Smoke.

Beer and a Smoke
1 oz. Sombra Mezcal
0.75 oz. fresh lime juice
1 dash The Bitter Truth Celery Bitters
4 dashes Cholula hot sauce
6 oz. Victory Pilsner, to top
1 tbsp each Kosher salt, celery salt, and ground black pepper, mixed together, for the rim
Freshly grated orange and lime zest, as garnish

Tools: barspoon, mixing glass, strainer, grater
Glass: chilled Collins

Method: Rub the rim of the Collins glass with a lime wedge and roll it in the salt and pepper mixture. Pour the Mezcal, lime juice, bitters, and hot sauce in a mixing glass with ice and stir briefly until chilled. Strain into the Collins glass (no ice) and top with the beer. Top with the freshly grated orange and lime zest.

The Beer and a Smoke is essentially a more spiritous, bitter, and herbal tasting Michelada (a Mexican drink consisting of beer, lime juice, and hot sauce). The Mezcal adds a smoky booziness, and the hot sauce, celery bitters, salt, and black pepper provide a rather spicy and savory backbone that really take the drink up a level above most Micheladas. The beer is also an upgrade from the standard Mexican beer used in Micheladas, as the Victory Pilsner provides a nice bitter hoppiness that complements the celery and herbal flavors in the drink. The orange and lime zest also add a bitter citrusy zing, and all that bitterness is properly offset by the salty rim, as salt counteracts--and in proper doses, compliments--bitterness.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the Beer and a Smoke is both legal and cancer free.  This is easily one of my favorite concoctions from Jim Meehan's extensive catalogue.

*This post is part of a series in which Payman takes on the task of making and writing about every cocktail featured in the PDT Cocktail Book, as well as providing an awesome photo of each drink taken by Vanessa Bahmani Photography.

**Got a question? He can be found on twitter @paystyle, you can email him at payman@pdtproject.com, or simply drop him a comment below.