Charo's Kick

1 1⁄2 oz Tequila

1⁄2 oz Mezcal

3⁄4 oz Orgeat

3⁄4 oz Lemon juice

Instructions

Shake, strain, up, lemon peel.

Cocktail summary

Created by

Anthony Schmidt, Noble Experiment, San Diego, CA.

Year

2010

Is an

authentic recipe

Reference

Sam Ross' Bartender's Choice app for iOS.

Curator

Not yet rated

Average

3.5 stars

(14 ratings)

Cocktail Book

From other users

Used blanco tequila. The sour and smoke never quite fit together for my taste.
KF likes

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Comments

The recipe in Imbibe has 2 bsp creme de menthe and is attributed to Justin Lane Briggs at Faro in Brooklyn. No clue which recipe is correct or first.

That's.... weird. Perhaps either of them are on Twitter and could be asked about the origin, but if the dates are correct, the Imbibe article is 2015. I have found a couple of webpages (eGullet and some French guy's cocktail website) from 2014 that mention it's an Anthony Schmidt drink. Thanks, Zachary

The Noble Experiment variant was listed as a "new menu item" in a 2011 article. Faro opened in 2015.

Found the answer in a 2015 Village Voice article:

A fan of cocktail history, Briggs cites the whiskey-based cameron’s kick from The Savoy Cocktail Book as the origin for the charo, a mezcal riff. Anthony Schmidt of the Noble Experiment in San Diego is the man who added a south-of-the-border spin. When Briggs tried it for the first time, his response was simply, “Oh, holy shit. I love this.” The drink’s appeal has a lot to do with its layers, which include crème de menthe and a floral orgeat that adds a note of freshness. ... “There’s nothing really more refreshing than mint and citrus together. If I ever wonder what to make someone and I have a drink that combines those two, I can make that and they’ll be happy,” Briggs explains.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2015/08/12/get-a-kick-out-of-this-mint-citrus-and-tequila-based-cocktail/

That VV article muddies the waters quite a bit... did the original have creme de menthe in it? Thanks, Zachary

No, it didn't and was based off of the Cameron's Kick (Irish and Scotch whisk(e)ys, orgeat, lemon). One San Diego magazine described the Noble Experiment's original version as "Charo’s Kick, a spicy blend of Tequila, Mezcal, lemon and Orgeat." It's really just sloppy reporting by Imbibe Magazine as well as the drink adaptor's lack of transparency. I would be aghast if it came out that way in print (all he did was add 2 bsp CdM). Then again, I've seen plenty of modern publications provide a recipe for a Tiki recipe provided by Lost Lake or Smuggler's Cove (without saying that it was a Trader Vic or Don the Beachcomber original that was modified).