In the Divine Com­e­dy (1321), Dante described his vision of the after­life in three breath­tak­ing­ly detailed can­ti­cas com­pris­ing an epic poem: Infer­no (Hell), Pur­ga­to­rio (Pur­ga­to­ry) and Par­adiso (Par­adise). This cock­tail gives you a touch of infer­nal heat with the jalapeño, but bal­ances that with the heav­en­ly cool of fresh­ly juiced hon­ey­dew and cucum­ber. The result is pure poet­ry.

Recipe

• 1 1/2 oz reposa­do tequi­la
• 1/2 oz hon­ey­dew juice
• 1/2 oz cucum­ber juice
• 1/4 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz Lil­let Blanc
• 1/2 oz sim­ple syrup
• Cou­ple dash­es of salt
• One small slice of jalapeño
• 8 leaves of cilantro
• Gar­nish with a leaf of cilantro

Mud­dle the jalapeño slice, (@1/2 slice) cilantro and sim­ple syrup in a cock­tail shak­er. Add the rest of the ingre­di­ents to your shak­er and shake with ice. Dou­ble strain into a chilled cock­tail glass and gar­nish with a large piece of cilantro.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Sean Schei­dt.