Drink Outside the Box: Mezcal and Goldschläger

Flashback to the summer after my senior year of high school: several of my friends and I were drinking late one night in my backyard, knocking back mezcal someone had brought back from a trip to Mexico. After a short while one of my friends drunkenly dared another to eat the worm out of the mescal bottle. That’s right — they put a “worm” inside bottles of mezcal. Well, some kind of larva or something like that which looks like a worm. (My friend, by the way, greatly regretted eating the worm; that anecdote was not meant as encouragement to do so.)

Mezcal, which is often confused with tequila, is a Mexican spirit made from agave plants. It is distilled in a different manner than tequila. Mezcal is usually sipped out of a Scotch glass or drunk as a shot (with our without salt and lime).

Mezcal is not the only alcohol with stuff in the bottle. A more common alcohol, the Swiss cinnamon schnapps called Goldschläger comes with tiny, super thin but visible flakes of gold.

A popular way to drink Goldschläger also has a great name for ordering:

Liquid Cocaine

1/3 oz. Goldschläger

1/3 oz. Jagermeister

1/3 oz. rum (could be normal rum or 151)

Pour an equal amount of each into a shot glass and enjoy.

California Gold Rush

1 ½ oz. Goldschläger

2 oz. vodka

12 oz. lemon-lime soda

Pour soda into glass without ice. Add vodka and Goldschläger; stir so the gold flakes mix evenly and continue to move around.

Have a great Slope Day and a fun summer. If you’re ever looking for more drink recipes, you can look up all the ones from this year here [2].