Cocktail recipe
Division Bell
A smoky, bitter, cherry-edged mezcal sour with a strikingly modern pulse.
Ingredients
- 30 ml (1 oz) mezcal joven
- 22.5 ml (¾ oz) Aperol
- 22.5 ml (¾ oz) maraschino liqueur
- 22.5 ml (¾ oz) fresh lime juice
- Garnish: grapefruit twist
Preparation
Shake mezcal, Aperol, maraschino and lime with firm ice until the edges pull together without losing the mezcal’s smoke. Fine-strain into a cold coupe. Express grapefruit oil over the surface so the first aroma is bright and bitter before the drink turns smoky and cherry-dry.
Glassware
Chilled coupe
History
Phil Ward created the Division Bell for Mayahuel, the influential New York mezcal bar that opened in 2009. Its equal-measure-inspired structure—mezcal, Aperol, maraschino and lime—reflects the Last Word family without being a literal equal-parts recipe. It is named after Pink Floyd’s 1994 album *The Division Bell*. The venue and creator attribution are widely reported, but an original opening-night menu has not been directly inspected.
Mixology View
The four components should remain in tension: smoke, bitter orange, cherry and lime. This is not just a mezcal Margarita.