“What I want, I want now,” sang out from the television as I made my way to the bar. It made sense. The right sentiment for the right time. As much as I enjoy respectful patience and longing from afar, today I have a thirst. A particular kind of thirst that requires a particular kind of satiety. This longing is an oddly welcome pain. In some strange way hunger reminds you that you are alive. So much of life slips by in a mundane, grey sort of stumble from one task to the next, that the inner grumblings, those unsatisfied pangs, are like a wake up call. Usually, you keep them quiet, pushed down, under control, not even acknowledging their existence, making a conscious choice to not speak of this, but sometimes, well, sometimes you just need to let go and give in to temptation. So with a nod to the wisdom of Oscar Wilde and his unique self help routine, won’t you join me now as we stand and make the See No Evil.

This drink is what I need today…well one of the things I need, anyway. It was created by Anders Erickson in 2015-16 at the request of a regular who asked for something “mezcal based, but tiki-esque.” He whipped this one together and the same patron suggested the name, “See No Evil” which sounded really cool and leaned into the surprise spicy finish. I like that version of the story better than the truth, that the song “See No Evil” by Television was playing in the background. Let that be a lesson to you, sometimes it is better to just go with things and not ask so damned many questions. Anyway, this drink is decidedly tiki-esque and requires the use of a hammer, so I feel like it is just the thing to pull us out of this ennui. Let’s make one.

This one calls for a little prep work before we start mixing, so grab some of that boring, everyday, non-artisanal ice, toss it in a Lewis Bag and beat hell from it with a wooden mallet. That’s right we are making crushed ice, the old-fashioned way and I find that highly therapeutic. Sure, you could buy crushed ice or flip that switch on your refrigerator and wait while it does a poor job of mauling the ice, but it is way more fun to do it yourself and will give your cocktail that unique hand-crafted touch. When you have crushed a goodly quantity of ice, set it to the side and grab your tins. Toss in 1 1/2 ounces of Mezcal, I went with Del Maguey; 3/4 of an ounce of Orgeat, 3/4 of an ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice and 4-5 dashes, I may have used more, of Tabasco sauce, I opted for the chipotle variety to lean into the smoky side of this drink. Toss in some crushed ice and give it a nice whip shake to the beat of See No Evil, but instead of the original go for the cool update by Ghost. A whip shake is quick just to mix things up and you don’t want to dilute this one much, so skip the strain and dirty dump this one into an awaiting suitably tiki adjacent tumbler, if you have a classic Mai Tai glass like this one from D.C.’s famed, but now shuttered, Archipelago, all the better. Mound up the rest of your crushed ice and stab liberally with Angostura Bitters, slap a little mint, to show it who is boss and garnish accordingly, toss in a reusable glass straw from Surfside Sips, a little grated nutmeg to top it all off and you are ready to serve.

As simple as this build is, it is even better than I had imagined. It feels kind of like a riff on Ivy Mix’s Tia Mia variation of the classic Mai Tai, with a little Trinidad Sour thrown in there and the addition of the hot sauce really makes this one. I love the smoke of the mezcal upfront balanced by the combination of sweet orgeat and the acid from the tart lime. The hot sauce hides until the finish which leaves you wanting more and that Angostura float brings it all together and keeps the sweet notes from taking over. Just a really solid drink all the way around. Laura loved it and encouraged me to work it into the rotation here, perhaps swapping out that Tabasco for a Captain Rodney’s Prohibition or Where There’s Smoke Hot Sauce, which sounds pretty great to me.

That was sufficiently satisfying. I’ve still got some other hungers, but I enjoyed the drink immensely. I also liked that part where we pounded the ice into submission and, if I am honest, I enjoyed slapping the mint, not that I am feeling violent, just a bit bossy. Sometimes it is good to give your desires a little more rein and let them enjoy themselves. I often wonder if I feel Poe’s infamous “Imp of the Perverse”, the desire to do a thing merely because we feel we should not, more than others. I certainly hope so and that the rest of you are not engaged in a constant war with yourselves against self-destructive impulses. On the other hand it is kind of nice to be able to externalize those intrusive thoughts and blame them on that Imp. It is hard to say where our desires or temptations come from, what can inspire a random longing. Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist anything, except temptation…” but he also wrote, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself…” Clearly he gave the subject some serious consideration, but that makes a lot of sense considering his times and situation. I have always found his thoughts on the subject particularly telling when he wrote, “Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.” In fact, that cuts closer to the bone for me than I like to admit sometimes. For even as I struggle against that imp, there are temptations in my mind that I doubt I would ever have the courage to yield to, and, perhaps that is best. Unless, of course, I had a few more of these drinks in which case, you better stay safe, stay sane and stay hydrated, my friends.