Earlier this month, Eddy Buckingham and the team behind Chinese Tuxedo opened a basement bar that’s buzzing with daytime juicers. At Peachy’s, brain-boosting supplements—including astragalus, pine pollen, blue algae and moringa leaves—are shaken and stirred into cocktails.
Talking to the seasoned Australian mixologist Buckingham feels like talking to a cocktail PhD student (if such a degree existed). “I prefer tequila to mezcal because it’s more malleable,” he says, as we veer to the topic of his favorite cocktail on the menu, “but we soak our mezcal in cacao nibs which gives it a little more weight and adds a smoky layer.”
Below is the recipe for The Great Protector that incorporates the aforementioned mezcal with chile-infused orange bitters and a cashew-astragalus orgeat.
Juicing just got a whole lot better.
The Great Protector
Recipe courtesy of Eddy Buckingham, Peachy's, New York CityIngredients
2 ounces Cacao Nib-Infused Mezcal (recipe below)
0.75 ounces Cashew-Astragalus Orgeat (recipe below)
2 dashes of Chile-Infused Orange Bitters (recipe below)
Bird’s eye chile, for garnish
Method
Add all of the ingredients to a rocks glass with a large ice cube and stir. Garnish with a single bird’s eye chile.
Cacao Nib-Infused Mezcal
Ingredients
750 milliliters mezcal
5 tablespoons cacao nibs, or 4 tablespoons cacao powder in a tea bag
Method
Place all of the ingredients into a soda syphon; add a CO2 cartridge and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth and then a coffee filter; reserve.
Cashew-Astragalus Orgeat
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 cups cashews, toasted
6 ounces astralagus
Method
Place sugar, water and cashews in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; finely blend and pass through a chinois and then cheesecloth. Stir astralagus through the warm orgeat; reserve.
Chile-Infused Orange Bitters
Ingredients
1 bottle Regan’s Orange Bitters
2 bird’s eye chiles; crushed
Method
Place the chiles in the orange bitters and infuse for one hour; strain.
Photo by Special Sauce.
