IBA
Illegal – IBA
A smoky and balanced mezcal cocktail ∙ Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 17.9% ABV ∙
The Illegal – IBA is a mezcal sour shaken with white overproof rum, falernum, a barspoon of maraschino, lime juice and sugar syrup.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Mezcal 30 mlWhite overproof rum 15 mlFalernum liqueur 15 mlMaraschino liqueur 1 bspLime juice 22 mlSugar syrup 15 mlEgg white 5 ml (opt.)
- Strain into the chilled cocktail glass. Alternatively, serve on the rocks in an old-fashioned glass or a traditional terracotta mug.
Tips
- The maraschino is only a bar spoon and the falernum 15 ml; both are strong, and an extra splash buries the mezcal.
History
Accounts of the Illegal's origin conflict. One version, reported in Italian bartending press, credits Italian bartender Samuele Ambrosi with inventing it in the late 1990s while working at the Castel Brando hotel in Cison di Valmarino. The prompt was an American guest, Dr. Joe Paul Shafer, described his love of Daiquiris and of the Central and Southern American countries he traveled to for work. In this telling, Ambrosi built a Daiquiri variant with tequila, falernum, Jamaican rum, maraschino, lime, and simple syrup, and Shafer's remark that it tasted "so good it must be Illegal" gave the drink its name. Ambrosi later swapped in mezcal while working at the Dom'us bar in Oderzo, arriving at the recipe used today.
Other reference sources describe the Illegal's origin as undocumented and note that, despite the near-identical name, it has no established connection to the Ilegal Mezcal brand founded in Guatemala. That brand traces to bartender John Rexer's Café No Sé in Antigua, where he began bringing in mezcal around 2004 and formalized it as a house brand in 2006. That timeline sits awkwardly with any claim that the cocktail was named for the brand, since the Ambrosi story places the drink's creation several years earlier.
Whatever its exact origin, the Illegal entered wider circulation through modern craft bartending and was formally added to the IBA official cocktail list in 2020, under the New Era category.
FAQ
What is in an Illegal cocktail?
30 ml mezcal, 15 ml white overproof rum, 15 ml falernum liqueur, a barspoon of maraschino liqueur, 22 ml lime juice and 15 ml sugar syrup. An optional 5 ml of egg white adds texture.
Is the Illegal cocktail shaken or stirred?
Shaken. The lime juice and optional egg white need a hard shake to mix and chill properly, which stirring cannot do.
