Hoodwinked Recipe
Mezcal and plenty of pineapple juice with a little Aperol for bitter orange, finished with a harissa-dusted pineapple slice that brings the heat.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 14%
- Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- Mezcal60 ml (2 oz)
- Aperol15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Fresh lemon juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Pineapple juice52 ml (1.8 oz)
- Simple syrup7.5 ml (0.3 oz)
How to Make It
- Press one side of a pineapple slice into harissa spice and set it aside.
- Shake all the ingredients with ice until cold and frothy.
- Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
- Garnish with the spiced pineapple slice and two pineapple fronds.
Garnish
Harissa spice–coated pineapple slice and 2 pineapple fronds
What it tastes like
It has a bitter backbone, fruit notes come forward, there is pineapple and passion fruit in it and smoke dominates the nose.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Mezcal
- The Mexican spirit whose smoke comes from roasting the agave in a stone pit. It can stand in for tequila, but the smoke walks over everything else; starting half and half is the balanced move.
- Aperol
- The orange aperitif, flavoured with bitter orange and rhubarb. It is Campari's gentler cousin: 11% alcohol, sweeter, far less bitter. Substituting Campari means adding sugar.
- Fresh lemon juice
- Freshly squeezed lemon; one lemon gives 30-40 ml. It can swap with lime, but lemon is softer and less aromatic, so use a touch more.
- Pineapple juice
- Pineapple juice. It foams on its own when shaken — that creamy head on a tiki drink comes from the pineapple, not from egg white.
- Simple syrup
- One part sugar to one part water, stirred until it dissolves — no need to boil it. Keeps a month in the fridge. No syrup? Use the same amount of honey, loosened with a little water.
The Story
A contemporary bar drink from the smoky-and-tropical school, pairing agave smoke with pineapple the way tiki pairs rum with it.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Hoodwinked mixed?
- It is shaken and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Hoodwinked?
- Roughly 14% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Hoodwinked be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Hoodwinked hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.