Smoky Cocktails

560 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117 (map)

The Puro: For this cocktail, a dried orange rind is lit on fire, and the burnt citrus fumes are used to smoke the inside of a glass. Then the drink--consisting of rum, two kinds of sherry and bitters--is poured through the smoke and served.

1700 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94115 (map)

The Smoked Cup: A Pimm’s Cup cocktail can be as simple as Pimm’s liqueur and fizzy lemonade on the rocks, but at Dosa they add mezcal to the drink and smoked sea salt on the rim. The result is refreshing, complex and pleasantly smoky.

300 Grove St, San Francisco, CA 94102 (map)

The Scorching Banshee: This ingenious creation, just added to the menu in November, is a mixture of smoky Laphroaig Islay single-malt scotch whisky with an organic chamomile liqueur, allspice and Peruvian bitters. The taste is something like a late summer wildfire.

398 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA 94102 (map)

The Fool's Gold: Over the past year, Absinthe has offered up cocktails with smoked glassware and smoked syrup, but the Fool’s Gold is more conventional, or as conventional as the drinks get at this unique bar. It combines organic mezcal with an exotic herbal liqueur, lemon juice and apricot bitters.

1199 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (map)

Single Village Fix: While many of the cocktails on this list contain just a rinse or splash of the smoky liquor, this drink gives us the full dose of mezcal, tempered with pineapple gum syrup and lightened with lime juice. If you’re out bar-hopping, know that you can also find this drink at Jardiniere.

2534 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (map)

One of the first popular cocktails to call for a rinse of scotch whisky is the Smoky Martini. Foreign Cinema’s version calls for Belvedere vodka with Ardbeg scotch whisky for smoke, topped off with a lemon-rind garnish.