The old spirit switcheroo is a common happenstance in any restaurant or bar created by the mostly innocent guest and in turn, must be realized by the bartender via the waiters who are oftentimes bad communicators or just uninformed. It can be a frustrating situation for any professional booze slinger, not just your friendly neighborhood Aging Bartender. On any given night, some jabroni may ask for a vodka Negroni (oh god why?), or even worse, for one of your signature cocktails to be bastardized by adding another type of spirit.

But Mr. Aging Bartender, why do you care? Just do it and shut up! Yeah, ok, ok. If they want something not up to par (in my own educated opinion) then who cares right? Wrong. By allowing people to do this we are also giving the green light to lower the standards. Plus, people should try new things. Variety is the spice of life.

Case in point: The Mezcal Negroni. A drink that you cannot just pull the old switcheroo on. Your typical specs for it would be:

1 oz. Mezcal instead of London Dry Gin

1 oz. Campari

1 oz. Sweet Vermouth (Carpano, etc.)

The problem here is that it tastes off. Something about the Campari and how it reacts with the mezcal. You cannot just switch something out and expect the same flavor profiles to gel, especially with a quaffer as glorious and perfect as a Negroni. The culinary equivalent would be to ask a chef to just switch the set on one of their proteins. This aint ham and eggs at the local greasy spoon, kiddos.

On April 19, 2023 I wrote of the Mezgroni. Angel and I did some R&D and came up with this:

1 oz. Mezcal

1 oz. Meletti

1 oz. Salers

Stir lightly. Serve on BFR with an expressed orange peel.

It works so well we received almost zero guff from the masses but the monkey wrench happened because it also took an effort from the waitstaff who had to mention the change and they dont know what the hell a Negroni is in the first place. Sure, you can tell them five thousand times, but they still wont remember, so telling them about switching the specs around is too confusing. Over the years it grew tiresome and we went back to just using the above recipe which I am ashamed to admit.

Well, no more. This is the official change which is so damn good you will never want to go back. Problem is, it needs another name. Just calling it a Mezcal Negroni is weak sauce.

Dantiyo

1 oz. Mezcal

1 oz. Suze

1 oz. Dolin Blanc

Stir, pour over BFR. Orange peel expression, yada, yada.

Suze is a more earthy and herbal while still providing plenty of that gentian root bitterness.

Where does the name come from? Well…One of my favorite Serge Gainsbourg tunes is “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Originally written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical Roberta, the first recording was by Gertrude Niesen in 1933, and other artists like Paul Whiteman, Dinah Shore, and Nat King Cole have also recorded it.

In French, it is la fumée entre dans tes yeux. Shortened, dans tes yeux (in your eyes). I just combined the three words and spanishized it. Dantiyo. There you go. This is partial homage to the two french ingredients, Suze and Dolin Blanc. Sounds exotic.

This is your AI generated image for this post, #439. December 5, 2025.