Here is another spirit-driven cocktail featuring Yellow Chartreuse. This time, we only need a spoonful, but it’s just enough to create some herbal overtones for what is otherwise a somewhat unusual combination of ingredients. It was created by Keegan McGregor of Field Guide in Halifax, Nova Scotia and it appeared in the September/October 2019 issue of Imbibe Magazine. We made note of it years ago and have been wanting to make it ever since.

This is also a mezcal drink, or at least that’s how we would list it on a menu. That’s because mezcal, with its smokey character, doesn’t actually require the full volume of base spirit to exert control over the flavor. As this desert climate spirit was getting more popular in the craft cocktail scene, bartenders quickly realized that a mere half ounce alongside full ounce of tequila was plenty to give a cocktail a strong whiff of smoke without overpowering the other ingredients. It’s a smart move flavor-wise and since good mezcal can be more expensive than the tequila used, it’s also economical.

Dead Poet
1 oz blanco tequila
1 oz dry vermouth
.5 oz mezcal
.5 oz Benedictine
1 tsp yellow Chartreuse
2 dashes orange bitters

Stir with ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with a lime peel twist.

While the mezcal-tequila base combination is typical, adding a vermouth modifier is not. This is something you see all the time with whiskey but rarely with agave spirits. We haven’t tried it since the Jalisco Stroll, and we absolutely love that drink! Here, we are going in a sweeter, herbal direction with the pair of French liqueurs. You could sub Ver if you haven’t been able to snag a bottle of Yellow Chartreuse, but there isn’t a good substitute for DOM Benedictine. Fortunately, that one is easy to find and it has plenty of other uses making it a worthwhile addition to your cabinet.

Benedictine actually blends nicely with its yellow Carthusian counterpart. These herbal liqueurs are in fact so good together we might have to go back through a list of drinks with one or the other and try swapping or combining them for some fun variations. A little orange bitters helps to bring everything together since orange pairs well with tequila. We made a pigtail garnish over the glass to capture any lime oil spray and help scent the surface and the rim. No question—there’s a lot going on here, but it somehow magically comes together.

We are not sure why this is called the Dead Poet, but we imagine this is is what Walt Whitman might have said about it:

Let us raise our glasses to the song of ourselves,
To the echoes of laughter, the ripple of good company,
To the shared breath of life and the thrill of the moment,
For every atom of joy in this drink belongs to us all.
Here’s to the shine and shade, the vine and the spirit—
A celebration of life in every sip!