It’s been almost six months since Soho favourite Dram Bar sadly closed its Denmark Street doors and for fellow cocktail fans miss the place, there is now a new way to get a Dram fix. Co-founder Chris Tanner has partnered with the excellent Michoacán mezcal brand Zacal to design the recipe for the Zacalita, a bartender-quality cocktail in a can. And who does not love these cocktails in a can, or at least the better ones?
The Zacalita is a take on the classic margarita, made with mezcal rather than tequila. It brings together Zacal’s smooth, triple-distilled Manso Sahuayo mezcal, fresh lime and High Fidelity Triple Sec, co-created by chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, co-founder of Soho’s The Devonshire. The twist is a distillate of black cardamom and light carbonation, which gives it a lightly smoked, savoury, aromatic lift.
Tanner, also behind Bethnal Green’s All My Gods, created the recipe alongside Rory Shepherd, co-owner of Paris cocktail bar De Vie and formerly of Little Red Door. Between them they’ve built some of Europe’s best-loved bars.
The canned cocktail category has come a long way from train tinnies, and the Zacalita is pitched squarely at drinkers who expect bar-standard quality from a can.
Chris Tanner, co-founder of Dram and All My Gods commented: “We wanted to make something that tasted like it had come from behind the bar, not off a production line.
“The mezcal does a lot of the work; being triple-distilled, it’s smooth and complex enough to carry a cocktail in a way most mezcals aren’t. Every ingredient is there to elevate the serve – the triple sec was co-created by the acclaimed chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, and the black cardamom is the real point of difference, giving it a smoky, savoury lift you don’t expect from a can. Getting that level of detail into a format people can grab and go was the whole challenge and it’s what makes it genuinely less ordinary.”
What makes it work is the multi-award winning mezcal underneath. Zacal is triple-distilled — rare in mezcal, where most stop at double distillation — which is what gives it that more refined taste whilst maintaining real depth and complexity. It’s made in the volcanic highlands of Michoacán (not Oaxaca, where most mezcal comes from) by third-generation mezcalero Milton Ochoa, who distils every batch at his family’s vinata.
At an easy-going 7% ABV, Zacalita is lighter than most canned cocktails, and is intended to offer a refined serve while not skimping on flavour. Suits me, and I suspect, you. And the can even nods to its roots, with a design inspired by Parícutin, the youngest volcano in the world, and is (panic over) fully recyclable.
The Zacalita (200ml, RRP £7) is available to buy from zacalmezcal.com
david@greencastlemediagroup.com
