Irish coffee meets mezcal at Metl Bar Creamery & Cafe

• Katiee Mitchell
• Metl Bar Creamery & Cafe
• 2835 University Avenue
• North Park

Metl Bar Creamery & Cafe may have gained a reputation as the House of Boozy Ice Cream, but I want to shake things up a bit (pardon the pun) and try one of their proper cocktails. Katiee Mitchell greets me with a friendly grin and points me toward the Paint It Black, a drink made with mezcal, cacao, vanilla, and cinnamon, and topped with cold brew coffee.

“Almost like a version of an Irish coffee, but with mezcal,” is how she describes the drink. “So it has the coffee, the sweetener, and the spirit. Do you like cream and sugar in your coffee? If so, the drink will probably work out. It would just have that hint of smokiness.”

The majority of Metl Bar’s drinks are named after songs from the rock ‘n’ roll genre. “We try to keep everything close to home and stick with the theme of metal,” says Mitchell. But to give the North Park location its own identity, Mitchell aimed to make “drinks that are versatile for the whole day. Whereas downtown, the cocktails are more tailored toward a night menu. For the Paint It Black, I’ve made a couple different riffs.” She explains how they turned what was originally a slushy drink into a full cocktail because of its success. “We brought DropKick cold brew on nitro onto our draft system here, so we said, ‘Let’s top it with cold brew — that’ll add a bittering aspect, as well as a little bit of a pick-me-up.’”

Smoked cinnamon is added for a special effect. “Because if you smoke a cinnamon stick, everybody in the whole establishment can smell it, and they go ‘Oh what’s that?’ And then it’s smoking as you walk through, so it gets everybody excited about it.” She burns the end of a cinnamon stick like you would a stick of incense. “Warning to the public — be careful when sipping!”

Mezcal offers the palate another kind of smokiness. “We’re big fans of the Ilegal... A Joven is pretty introductory. It’s an easy way to switch over from tequila to mezcal. If you’ve never had it before, very welcoming,” says Mitchell. “Ilegal itself does have a touch of smoke to it. So with the smokey flavor, we do warn people, ‘Have you ever had a bonfire or campfire?’ That’s the flavor you’re going for, what you think that scent would taste like.’”

Confectionary flavors of vanilla and chocolate draw on the creamery theme without creating too sweet a drink. “The cold brew adds that balance of the bitterness and the Ilegal mezcal adds the smoke element. So it takes all the sweetness and pulls it every different way to make this particular cocktail balanced.”

This year-round cocktail completes a menu built with “brunch and beyond” on the brain. “These represent brunch to us — cold brew floats and these flavors that are morning pick-you-up and don’t make you feel so bad about having a beverage at 10 am. But also that you could drink at night for an after-dinner cocktail. Whatever you may choose!”

Metl Bar Creamery & Cafe’s

Paint It Black

• 1 oz. vanilla liqueur
• 1/2 oz. cacao
• 1/4 oz. cinnamon simple syrup
• 1 1/2 oz. Ilegal Joven Mezcal
• DropKick cold brew
• 1 cinnamon stick

• Combine vanilla liqueur, cacao, cinnamon simple syrup, and mezcal in shaker tin with ice. Shake and strain into Collins glass, then top with DropKick cold brew. Garnish with a smoked cinnamon stick.