It seemed fitting to me to recreate the scene as well for the cocktail pairing to toast Kel’s beautifully whimsical puzzle box. To that end I applied the story of little Bill the Lizard metaphorically to the classic Jabberwock cocktail, in keeping with the theme for all the pairings for this project. The Jabberwock has a base spirit of gin, but as anyone knows, the spirit of choice for any self-respecting lizard is tequila. I used a medium-aged reposado, my favorite type. Reposado means “rested”, and refers to tequila that has aged in an oak barrel (often a white-oak whiskey type barrel) for at least two months, or for up to one year. The aging imparts a golden hue, and greater complexity of flavor. The Caperitif vermouth of the original remains, but the dry sherry ingredient is replaced with delicious a blend of two sherries called East India Solera. The name refers to the East India Trading Company that first created this blend of 80% Oloroso and 20% Pedro Ximenez. The result is a delicious dark amber hued, rich and mature sherry that is not as sweet as pure Ximenez.

There are a few specific elements added to these ingredients that help tell the story. For the chimney, there is a bit of smoke added with an intensely peaty scotch blend from Compass Box Distillery, and a bit of fire added with a dash of Habanero Hellfire Bitters, which is essentially a tasty tincture of hot peppers. Finally, and not to be missed, is the hero of the story, little Bill, who is represented by a rinse of green absinthe in the glass. I like to add just a hint of sugar to all this spice, which settles and amplifies the flavors just right. Here’s to Bill, our everyman hero who is just trying to do some good in the world and help out, and gets kicked in the ass for his trouble. As Kelly Snache likes to say, may he manifest a beautiful day. Cheers!

There Goes Bill!

1 oz reposado tequila

¼ oz Peat Monster scotch

¾ oz East India Solera sherry

¾ oz Caperitif

Absinthe rinse

Barspoon demerara (brown sugar) syrup

1 d Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub

Stir the ingredients together with ice and strain into a little glass. Garnish with a lime peel lizard.

See the entire series: