Desert Sunset

Carrot cocktails sometimes end up tasting oddly healthy. But this one from Chad Hauge of Chicago’s Longman & Eagle is just pure fun. It’s salty, bright, smoky, and fresh—the kind of thing that’ll get you dancing. Orange and lime juices give the carrot juice a lift, and leathery mezcal finds its match in a rim of salt and smoked paprika. If you don’t have a bottle of mezcal, you should get some. Liquor store’s closed? Blanco tequila will do. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 ounces fresh lime juice, divided 

• 2 teaspoons coarse salt 

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked hot paprika 

• 2 ounces mezcal 

• 1/2 ounce 1:1 agave syrup (recipe follows) 

• 1 ounce fresh carrot juice 

• 1/2 ounce fresh orange juice 

The One-Bottle Cocktail by Maggie Hoffman

Directions

To rim the glass, pour 1/2 ounce of the lime juice onto a small plate. Stir together salt and smoked hot paprika on another small plate. Dip a rocks glass first into the lime juice, then dip and roll it in the paprika mixture. Set aside. 

Combine mezcal, agave syrup, carrot juice, orange juice, and remaining 3/4 ounce lime juice in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake vigorously until well chilled, about 12 seconds. Fill the rimmed glass with ice and double-strain the cocktail into it. 

1:1 AGAVE SYRUP Mix one part (say, 1 ounce) agave nectar with one part (again, 1 ounce) hot water and stir until dissolved. 

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