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Cocktail History
The Mexican Tricycle is a modern cocktail that was created by Andrew Volk at Portland Hunt + Alpine Club in Portland, Maine. According to its inventor, it’s made with mezcal, Cynar, and hard cider and is meant to be a cool-weather variation of Jeff Morgenthaler’s Broken Bike, which is itself a riff on the Bicicletta.
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 Del Maguey Vida Mezcal because it has a palatable mezcal flavor with notes of ginger, cinnamon, and tangerine. For a low-proof version of this drink, try MONDAY Zero Alcohol Mezcal in place of the mezcal.
Cynar: This is a liqueur made in Italy with artichokes, herbs, spices, sugar, and alcohol.
Hard Cider: This is an alcoholic beverage made with fermented apple juice. We used Red’s Hard Apple Ale. For a low-proof version of this drink, try apple cider in place of the hard cider.
Lime Wheel: This is a lime slice 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.
Bar Spoon: This is used to stir ingredients. We used the Barfly Stainless Steel Teardrop Bar Spoon.
Paring Knife: This is used to cut ingredients. We used the OXO Good Grips 3.5 Inch Paring Knife.
Tasting Notes
The Mexican Tricycle features aromas of light lime and deep smoke and has a taste that begins with apple’s sweetness followed by mezcal’s boisterous, earthy flavor almost immediately. On the swallow, the Cynar comes forward, combining a pleasant bitterness with the mezcal’s smoky aftertaste.
Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: While we agreed this drink featured one of the more unique flavor evolutions we’ve ever tried, Kendall didn’t find the Mexican Tricycle quite palatable enough. Alex enjoyed the unexpected blend of flavors though and would turn to this again in the future, perhaps with a drier cider.
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: ⭐⭐⭐
“Having started my drinking career with a bottle of Red’s Apple Ale, I wasn’t sure how this would go down since it was combining two of my new loves (mezcal and Cynar) with an old, long-lost, and mostly unwanted love. However, this drink had a crazy intense evolution and ended up tasting better than I thought it would. It barely featured the apple’s sweetness and instead featured the effervescence of the cider to complement mezcal’s earthiness and Cynar’s bitterness, which doesn’t even show up until the after-after taste. I can’t say I would order this drink often but am intrigued by its flavor profiles and enjoyed pondering it.”—
Kendall’s Take: ⭐
“I don’t care for mezcal or Cynar, but I went into this tasting intrigued about how the two ingredients would taste when mixed with the cider. I expected them to be largely masked by the cider, but they weren’t at all. I mostly tasted smoky mezcal with a hit of Cynar’s bitterness at the end. Ultimately, this wasn’t for me, but it was interesting. I’ll give it that.”
Recipe
This cocktail recipe was adapted from The Essential Cocktail Book: A Complete Guide to Modern Drinks by the editors of PUNCH and Megan Krigbaum.
Add mezcal, Cynar, and cracked ice to a highball glass.
Stir for 5-10 seconds.
Top with hard cider.
Garnish with lime wheel.
Ingredients
Directions
Add mezcal, Cynar, and cracked ice to a highball glass.
Stir for 5-10 seconds.
Top with hard cider.
Garnish with lime wheel.
Make It a Mocktail: Use MONDAY Zero Alcohol Mezcal in place of the mezcal and apple cider in place of the hard cider 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:
Sabueso Old Fashioned: A tequila and mezcal cocktail made with caramel coffee syrup, coffee and chocolate bitters, and an orange peel
Privateer (Variation): A tequila cocktail made with passion fruit syrup, pineapple juice, lime juice, smoke and salt bitters, rosemary, and Tajín
Old Grampian: A Scotch cocktail made with honey syrup, Angostura aromatic bitters, orange bitters, and an orange peel
The Marriage of Maguey: A mezcal and tequila cocktail made with coffee chocolate liqueur, orange curaçao, and agave syrup
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