Scoville Sour

2.5 oz Hendrick's gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey simple syrup
1/2 oz maple syrup
1/4 tsp cayenne and espelette pepper mix

Now that I have a bottle of Hendrick's I've been making myself Scoville Sours.

I don't have any espelette pepper, so I used white pepper instead. I was told with white pepper the mix should be mostly cayenne, but that was too hot for me. I make my Sours with a half cayenne/half white pepper mix. If I get some espelette I imagine I'll have to readjust the cayenne amount.

The cayenne pepper goes well with the sweet and sour taste of the lemon, honey syrup, and maple syrup. I think the honey and maple give the drink's sweetness more depth than you'd get just using a simple syrup.

A note about the drink - it yields more than a four ounces. When making it, I either have to use a larger glass, or I end up sipping the cocktail from the glass before pouring out the last bit. Since it has cayenne pepper, hurriedly sipping the drink to make more room can be a little uncomfortable.

The cocktail used to be served at No. 9 Park, but when I was there for Restaurant Week I was told they no longer make them. What a pity!

(For those wondering, the honey syrup is one part honey, one part water, stirred over heat until the honey has completely mixed in.)