After that kind of rough night experience, I needed something extra special to “celebrate” this box, the kind of drink that can take one’s mind off of all the questionable things that went on in that space ship. I needed something strong, and I knew exactly what it was called: mezcal. Often maligned and misunderstood, mezcal has a rich agricultural history in Mexico and is as refined and nuanced a spirit as any other. All agave based spirits are mezcal, and most come from Oaxaca. Mezcal’s cousin, tequila, is simply a mezcal that is from specific regions, made with pure blue agave.

But what I was truly craving (you know why) was a mezcal Negroni. If you don’t like Negronis, maybe you need to try a mezcal Negroni. Instead of the usual gin, use mezcal. Typically a mezcal Negroni will also swap the rich red hues of Campari and sweet vermouth found in the classic Negroni with light colored amaro and aperitifs. For this version I used Cocchi Americano and the deceptively clear Luxardo Bitter Bianco, a robust amaro made in the same fashion as a typical red amaro like Campari, but made clear during the unique distillation process.

It couldn’t be just any old mezcal Negroni, however. No, I had to stick with the space theme after all. We had just been visiting Jupiter on our interstellar cocktail journey. Saturn would be next, and is always nice to visit, but we’ve been there already. Moving on we come to the blue giant, everyone’s favorite, you know the one – Uranus. Getting to Uranus is relatively easy, if you are in the mood, and have an open mind to it. I’m talking, obviously, about blue curacao. Curacao is a delicious orange liqueur similar to triple sec and found in many classic cocktails. Blue curacao is the same thing, just blue. It’s only ever used to make a drink look blue, which is so much fun, right? And now that we’re having fun, finally, why stop there? We can make this Uranus cocktail even better with a planetary ice ball, spiked with a little Fernet Branca, that reminds me of Venus. Here’s what the astrologers have to say about putting Venus in Uranus:

“Venus conjunct Uranus - The dominating influence will be the urge for excitement, the stimulation of the unknown and the thirst for the richness of life's experiences.” – astromatrix.org

Need I say more? Cheers.

When Venus is in Uranus

1 oz Del Maguey Vida mezcal

1 oz Cocchi Americano

1 oz Luxardo Bitter Bianco

¼ oz blue curacao

Fernet Branca ice ball

Stir ingredients together with ice and strain into a favorite glass with the ice ball. Garnish with an alien lime wheel for an out of this world cocktail.