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Cocktail History
The Gun Metal Blue is a modern cocktail that was created in 2015 by Mike Shain and Nicholas Bennett at Porchlight in New York City, New York. It calls for a mixture of mezcal, peach brandy, lime, cinnamon syrup, gentian root, and blue curaçao, which is what gives the drink its brilliant hue and made it an instance hit at the bar when it was initially added to the menu.
Cocktail Ingredients
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Mezcal: This is a spirit made in Mexico with agave, sugar, and alcohol that is aged in an underground pit lined with wood. We used Creyente Mezcal Joven because it has pleasantly smoky notes with a hint of fruit. For a low-proof version of this drink, try MONDAY Zero Alcohol Mezcal in place of the mezcal.
Lime Juice: This is the liquid juice of a lime. We used freshly squeezed lime juice.
Blue Curaçao: This is a liqueur made with oranges, sugar, spices, blue food coloring, and alcohol. We used Bols Blue Curaçao. For a low-proof version of this drink, try Monin Premium Blue Curaçao Syrup in place of the blue curaçao liqueur.
Peach Brandy: This is a liqueur made with peaches, spices, sugar, and brandy. We used DeKuyper Peach Brandy. For a low-proof version of this drink, try Escape Mocktails Non-Alcoholic Cognac Alternative and Monin Premium Stone Fruit Syrup in place of the peach brandy.
Suze: This is an apéritif made in France with gentian root, citrus, herbs, and alcohol.
Orange Disc: This is the peel of an orange that has been cut into a circular shape.
Bartending Tools
To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:
Jigger: This is used to measure and pour ingredients. We used the Japanese jigger from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Boston Shaker: This is used to shake ingredients. We used the Boston shaker from the A Bar Above 14-Piece Silver Bar Set.
Hawthorne Strainer: This is used to strain out ice and solid ingredients after the cocktail is shaken. We used the A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer.
Paring Knife: This is used to cut ingredients. We used the OXO Good Grips 3.5 Inch Paring Knife.
Juicer: This is used to juice citrus. We used the ALEEHAI Manual Fruit Juicer.
Peeler: This is used to remove the garnish peel from the citrus. We used the OXO Good Grips 2-Piece Peeler Set.
Tasting Notes
The Gun Metal Blue has aromas of citrus and smoky mezcal and a fairly tart taste that’s comprised of orange, mezcal, and touches of peach, and the aftertaste hangs around with a lingering earthy mixture of citrus and agave.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: Despite looking like a drink straight out of the 1980s, the Gun Metal Blue has a contemporary combination of great flavors. Worth nothing though, we both thought full ¾ ounce of lime was a bit overpowering for the liqueurs and syrups we used, so we might recommend toning that down to to a ½ ounce for the first one you make.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Which of our palates is yours most like?
Find out if your palate is most similar to Alex’s or Kendall’s by answering five questions.
Alex’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐
“While a very tasty drink, I think this may have had a lot more potential to be complex than it ended up actually being. The combination of cinnamon, peach, orange, and mezcal flavors sound great, but the recipe as published ends up overpowering the flavorful sweet flavors with a bit too much lime. The other flavors, while a great idea on paper, ended up playing second fiddle to the tartness. Don’t get me wrong, I like my drinks tart—Daiquiris, Margaritas, all of them. But with the flavors this wants to showcase, less tartness would be the right way to go. Try the drink with a little less lime juice, and you’ll see what I mean.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“From the list of ingredients, I didn’t expect this recipe to make me pucker up quite so much, but Alex is right. The full 3/4 oz of lime juice makes it quite the tangy little concoction. We tend to steer clear of blue curaçao in cocktails like this, but I can totally see how it would instantly make it a hit back in the mid-2010s especially when blue drinks were all the rage. They still kind of are, at least on social media, so if you want a tasty, refreshing, and eye-catching mezcal drink, you can’t go wrong with this one. I found it to be quite delicious!”
Recipe
This cocktail recipe was adapted from Mezcal + Tequila Cocktails: Mixed Drinks for the Golden Age of Agave by Robert Simonson.
![Mezcal and Tequila Cocktails: Mixed Drinks for the Golden Age of Agave [A Cocktail Recipe Book]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41ci0Phiq7L._SL75_.jpg)
Add mezcal, lime juice, blue curaçao, peach brandy, cinnamon syrup, Suze, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with orange disc.
Ingredients
Directions
Add mezcal, lime juice, blue curaçao, peach brandy, cinnamon syrup, Suze, and cubed ice to a shaker.
Shake for 10-20 seconds.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with orange disc.
Make It a Mocktail: Use MONDAY Zero Alcohol Mezcal in place of the mezcal, Monin Premium Blue Curaçao Syrup in place of the blue curaçao liqueur, and Escape Mocktails Non-Alcoholic Cognac Alternative and Monin Premium Stone Fruit Syrup in place of the peach brandy to try a low-proof version of this drink.
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More Mezcal Cocktails
If you like this mezcal-based cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:
The Marriage of Maguey: A mezcal and tequila cocktail made with coffee chocolate liqueur, orange curaçao, and agave syrup
Mezcal Mule: A mezcal cocktail made with ginger wort, lime juice, passion fruit purée, agave syrup, cucumber slices, candied ginger, and Tajín
Sforzando: A rye and mezcal cocktail made with Bénédictine, xocolatl mole bitters, and an orange twist
Old Grampian: A Scotch cocktail made with honey syrup, Angostura aromatic bitters, orange bitters, and an orange peel
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