La Cosecha Cocktail at Clandestino in Chicago
By Ed Avis
Customers coming into your restaurant or bar this time of year are primed for fall cocktails. The season has already surrounded them with rich scents and flavors, so when you tap into the spirit of the season with an autumn- inspired mixed drink or two, they will respond.
Two beverage leaders at Mexican/Latin restaurants share the stories of how they created cocktails to help customers fully enjoy the spooky season.
GILBERTO SANCHEZ, Matilda, Chicago
Matilda is a Mexican-Peruvian fusion restaurant in Chicago’s River North neighborhood that is part of the hospitality group Éxodo. Gilberto Sanchez, Éxodo’s beverage director, created La Cosecha as an autumn cocktail for Clandestino Cocktail Club, located in the basement of Matilda.
“La Cosecha is my interpretation of fall,” Sanchez says. “Instead of leaning on traditional pumpkin and baking-spice flavors, I wanted to express fall through ingredients that connect to my memories of growing up in Mexico. Reserva de la Familia Mole Cask [a limited edition anejo tequila from Jose Cuervo seasoned with red mole] brings richness and depth, while fig and piloncillo add warmth. Fino sherry keeps the cocktail dry and structured, and marigold adds a final aromatic element that connects the drink to Mexico’s fall festivities and harvest season.”
When Sanchez creates new cocktails, he starts with a foundational understanding of how the elements of a cocktail work together. A good cocktail includes acidity, sugar, bitterness, aroma, texture, dilution, and ABV, he explains, but the ratios of those elements vary.
When Sanchez was working on La Cosecha, he thought carefully about the ingredients.
“We have to think about which flavors we know for a fact work together,” he says. “Tequila and mole? Yes! So, we take a stirred cocktail direction, then what? Here is when storytelling helps you find the purpose of the drink. The honey/jammy darkness of the fig acts as a bridge to connect the vegetal, agave, and peppery brightness of the tequila, while the mole complements those peppery notes with bitter, bold cacao aromas that blend the cocktail together.”
DAVID BROOMHEAD, Maíz de la Vida, Nashville
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Paper and Ash Cocktail at Maíz de la Vida in Nashville, TN
Maíz de la Vida, which was named one of USA Today’s Best Restaurants of 2026, is known for merging Tennessee-grown ingredients with Mexican flavors centered around the corn tortilla. Bar Manager David Broomhead crafted Paper and Ash as an autumn cocktail that nods towards the restaurant’s second anniversary, being celebrated this year.
“The story behind the cocktail began with our one-year anniversary,” Broomhead says. “Paper is the traditional gift for the first anniversary, while the addition of Dickel, a Tennessee ingredient, keeps the story relevant for our second. The ash of burnt applewood pushes that idea somewhere more visceral. It asks the drinker to consider summer’s diminishing heat giving way to the crisp winds of fall.”
The cocktail elicits autumn sensations with its distinct combination of flavors and its smoky garnish.
“It suits fall so well,” Broomhead says. “We’re using a slightly aged mezcal, Ilegal Reposado, drawing out some of its barrel notes. Dickel White Corn Whiskey brings marshmallow, vanilla, and burnt corn. Together, they sit naturally with the warmth of cedar in the syrup.”
Fall Cocktail Recipes
Gilberto Sanchez of Chicago’s Matilda and David Broomhead of Maíz de la Vida in Nashville, Tennessee, share recipes recently added to their fall menus:
La Cosecha
Makes 1 cocktail
1 ½ oz Reserva de la Familia Mole Cask
½ oz Fino Sherry
½ oz Fig–Piloncillo Cordial
1 barspoon Yellow Chartreuse (approx. ⅛ oz)
2 drops 20% saline solution
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled and diluted, 15–20 seconds. Strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass.
Garnish with a light cempasúchil aromatic mist. (Steep 5 grams of marigold petals in 100 ml of Everclear for 24 hrs., strain and fill sprayer.)
Paper and Ash
Makes 1 cocktail
1.5 oz Ilegal Mezcal Joven
.75 oz Dickel White Corn Whiskey
.25 oz cedar & vanilla syrup
5 dashes Angostura bitters
5 drops saline
Build in an Old Fashioned glass with a large ice cube, stir, and garnish with smoking cedar chips on a burnt orange peel.
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