Forbes.com: Slow Sipping Adult Tequilas for Cinco de Mayo

Great article here on Forbes.com on some excellent tequilas and mezcals. In addition to the main story, also check out the slide show and video links for more info and list. Pictured below, Corzo blanco, $45.

A great trend in cocktails!

Interesting article in Forbes.com about a trend in mixed drinks / cocktails to start treating them more like fine dining and using fresh / local ingredients. Link to article here. The title of the article is a little misleading (it's called Cocktails go Green, but it doesn't really have anything to with environmental issues -- it's more just about fresh ingredients versus using typical pre-made mixes). The cocktail above is the "look better naked" margarita with acai and rosemary by a bartender in Chicago from a club called Nacional 27!

Champagne Cosmopolitan, Proud Mary

I've made a couple of new drinks lately that are pretty good. The first is simply my standard bloody mary recipe (see recipe in previous post for 20th Hole Bloody Mary), but simply reducing the amount of Red Eye bloody mary mix to just a couple of ounces, essentially making a smaller but stronger drink (ratio of vodka to mix is higher). I call it the "Proud Mary". A couple of those will certainly get you "rollin' on a river"!

The second drink is a new one that I really like, and plan to make for the next party I host. It's simply a mixture of a standard cosmopolitan and Champagne or sparkling wine. I thought about calling it a "Cham Wow", but I think that violates a copyright of something else! 8^) I think I'll stick with a Champagne Cosmo.

Note that real Champagne is from the Champagne region of France. While there are a few brands of real Champagne you can sometimes find for < $20, most real Champagne is > $40 a bottle and probably a little too nice to use for a mixed drink. So you can certainly use a good-tasting California sparkling wine or Italian Prosecco for this.

20th Hole Champagne Cosmopolitan (makes 2 drinks)
-- 4 oz vodka [I like Stolichnaya Citro (citrus-flavored vodka) for this, but any other good-quality unflavored vodka will also work well]
-- 2 oz Cointreau or Paula's Texas Orange
-- juice of 1 large lime, freeshly squeezed
-- Champagne, sparkling wine, or Italian Prosecco
-- 1-2 oz cranberry (or cran-raspberry) juice cocktail
-- 1-2 tbsp simple syrup, to taste
-- shaker filled with crushed ice
-- 2 large chilled martini glasses or champagne flutes

Add vodka, orange liqueur, lime juice, syrup, cranberry juice, and ice to shaker. Shake thoroughly to mix and chill. Strain into martini glasses or flutes, filling glass about halfway. Pour into glass the Champagne / sparkling wine to fill glass (you want about 1:1 ratio of cosmo to sparkling wine). Garnish with orange or lemon peel if desired.

Paula's Texas Orange

After quite a bit of searching (most of it quite tasty), I feel I have finally found a worthy "economic recession" replacement for my favorite orange liqueur, Cointreau. Cointreau is outstanding in my favorite mixed drinks like margaritas and comsopolitans, but tends to run $37-$40 for a 750ml bottle. And it never seems to be on special in my local store, Twin Liquors.

With the cutback actions taken at my company (mentioned in a previous post here), I needed to save some money, so I began trying cheaper substitutes. I tried Patron Citronge, Gran Gala, and Bauchant to only marginally acceptable results (the Citronge isn't that bad). But when I tried Paula's Texas Orange, my search was over.

Paula's is made in Austin, TX, and is unfortunately only available in Texas right now. As good as it is, though, I hope they'll expand and make it available to the rest of the country. It has a very fresh, light orange flavor that does not taste artificial at all. It makes great margaritas and cosmos. Heck, you can even make an All-Austin Cosmopolitan by using Paula's and your choice of three different Austin-made vodkas: Tito's, Dripping Springs, or Savvy.

While I still think Cointreau is the best, Paula's Texas Orange allows me to make margaritas and Cosmos that taste almost as good as those made with Cointreau, but for much lower cost. That's certainly something to be appreciated these days. Cheers!

Additional side note: "What about Grand Marnier?", you may ask. While I agree that Grand Marnier may be one of the best orange liqueurs out there, I prefer G-M for straight sipping in a cognac / brandy snifter. I think it's a bit heavy and overpowering for my margaritas and other mixed drinks. But this is simply my personal preference. Arguing about whether Cointreau or G-M is a better orange liqueur is like debating whether an Aston-Martin DBS or a Porsche 911 Turbo is a better car.

Bloody Mary, Dripping Springs Vodka, Red Eye

I thought at first when I saw Dripping Springs Vodka (web site here) in my local Twin Liquors that perhaps my alma mater's high school students had branched out in their student activities and had a class making booze! The vodka maker is not actually affiliated with the high school, though. I think it's funny that the picture on their web site has a photo taken at Enchanted Rock, probably 60+ miles away from Dripping Springs.

I'm not really a vodka connoisseur. All good-quality brands seem to taste good to me, especially in cocktails. Although I can tell that Austin based Tito's vodka (which is also quite good) has a bit of corn / whisky taste since it's based on corn instead of potato, wheat, or other grains like other vodkas.

I've started making Bloody Mary's at home lately, and it took me a while to find a recipe I liked. I really like the Red Eye Habanero mix, link here to web site. I've settled on the one below after some experimentation. Note you can also use Citadelle Gin (or other gin of your preference like Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray) instead of vodka for a change of pace -- that's really good, too.

20th Hole Bloody Mary
-- 4-6 oz Red Eye Habanero bloody mary mix
-- 2-3 oz Dripping Springs Vodka, Tito's Vodka, or Citadelle Gin
-- juice of half a lemon, freshly squeezed
-- few dashes worchestershire sauce
-- few dashes of Tabasco sauce

Mix all above in ingredients in tall glass, stir, add ice. Can also garnish with celery stalk, jalapeno-stuffed olives, or banana peppers as desired (I usually skip those formalities, especially if I'm making this on a weekday evening). BTW, I made these last night and didn't have any lemons so I used lime instead -- my wife commented that it didn't taste as good.

Now THIS is good tequila!

One of the most famous scenes from the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee is where Mick Dundee (played by Paul Hogan) is confronted in New York by a 3 would-be robbers. One robber with a switchblade demands Mick's wallet, but Mick pulls out his huge bowie-style knife and says, "That's not a knife ... THIS is a knife!" and the robbers flee in terror.

I had my own experience with tequila lately. My previous post talked about how good the Cuervo Platino was. Well, that's a switchblade compared to the Dundee knife of a tequila I just tasted recently, a wonderful Christmas gift from my mom. It's the Don Julio 1942 Anejo tequila, a special reserve aged tequila. While the regular Don Julio anejo is itself a wonderful tequila, this 1942 kicks it up a notch even further in terms of smoothness, complexity, length of finish, and, of course, cost! It comes in a gorgeous bottle that evokes an agave leaf. See below or link here for more info.


After our rather busy Christmas day activities at home, and after going over to Stephen and Tami's house for Christmas dinner, we got back home and put the kids to bed. We were fairly tired after a long day and sat down to watch TV and have a snifter of our new (old) tequila. We were watching Discovery Channel's Mythbusters (link here), and were somewhat dismayed to see that one of the topics for that show was testing the myth that "you can't polish a turd." They were actually attempting to polish real animal dung. This is not the topic to be watching when you're trying to savor your anejo Christmas present!

By the way, they determined that, in fact, a shine CAN actually be put on a ball of feces. Who knew?

Cuervo Actually Makes Great Tequila

Jose Cuervo as a general brand is not really known to be a connoisseur's tequila. It's more known as a medium used to get college coeds drunk in Cancun so they'll take off their clothes and be featured in the next "Girls Gone Wild" video.

But Michael at my local Twin Liquors had a special running on this Cuervo Platino Reserva de la Familia. It's normally $53 but they had a special of buy two bottles for $70. This might be the best silver tequila I've ever had, and it makes one heck of a margarita / mex-martini (when blended with Cointreau and fresh lime juice, of course). It's certainly as good and perhaps better than Patron, Tezon, and Gran Centenario Plata (my other silver top tequilas). It also comes in a cool blue box.

Lauren's birthday, Sauza Tradicional

My daughter Lauren had her 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I forgot to do a post about it. Like my mom's tequila-bottle birthday cake at Thanksgiving (see previous post here), we also got my daughter's cake from Erin McCormick. She did a really good job on a "Mater" cake, the redneck tow truck from the Disney movie Cars. We had a few friends / relatives over to our house for her party, and I made martini-style margaritas with jalapeno-stuffed olives. These turned out to be quite a hit and I may make these again for future gatherings. See photos below, more photos on Flickr here.

Margarita martinis I made were as follows:
2 oz Sauza Tradicional Reposado tequila (one of the least expensive 100% agave tequilas, about same price as Hornitos, less oak flavor than Hornitos)
1 oz Cointreau
Fresh juice of 1/2-1 lime
1-2 tsp simple syrup to taste
1-2 tsp juice from jalapeno-stuffed olive jar to taste

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake, strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with jalapeno-stuffed olive.

Mater Cake

Lauren and Daniel

75th Anniversary of Prohibition repeal this Friday

I read a very interesting article today in Forbes.com, link here, regarding 10 prohibition-era classic mixed drinks to make at home. The author, Eric Arnold, writes:

Some Americans will lift a glass of egg nog or mulled wine this weekend. Others are planning on breaking out the hard stuff. Jim Meehan is one of them. Usually found behind the bar at speakeasy PDT (Please Don't Tell), Meehan, 32, is one of New York's best-known mixologists. But this Friday is special for him and every other bartender--4:31 pm on that day marks Prohibition's repeal, 75 years ago.

Kind of a funny coincidence -- My wife is planning a holiday party this Friday night at our home for the families of our kids' daytime play group, and she wanted me to make some mixed drinks. Well, we will certainly raise a glass to that special occasion!

In the article, there's also a link to click through a slide show of the various classic mixed drink recipes. I'd have to buy some new stuff to make most of them ... I do not have absinthe, grenadine, or Angostura bitters in my pantry. Maybe I'll make some Sidecars, one of the recipes in the slide show:

The Sidecar
In The Night Club Era by Stanley Walker (1933), he writes that Sidecars weren't made by Prohibition-era bartenders since they were too much trouble to make. The drink enjoyed much of its popularity right before Prohibition, however, and remains a favorite of cocktail geeks today. The main spirit, Cognac, can be substituted depending on personal preference (Armagnac is the same as Cognac, just from a different region of France). Some recipes call for bourbon, others for brandy.

Recipe:
2 parts Cognac or Armagnac
1 part Cointreau
1 part lemon juice
Stir all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with sugar, and garnish with a piece of lemon rind.
Recipe from The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930.

Thanksgiving + Mom's birthday, Donna Julio Anejo

My mom, Donna, turned 60 last week, and we celebrated her birthday during Thanksgiving at my wife's aunt/uncle's (Tami/Stephen) home. Thanks VERY much to Stephen and Tami for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at their home!

Stephen smoked a turkey and a pork butt in his Big Green Egg smoker (link here and photo below). It was fantastic, and their delicious results have caused my wife to begin telling me that we need to get a smoker and preferably begin doing about 1 pork butt per week from now on until the end of time!


Instead of pumpkin or pecan pie, we had a special birthday cake made by a lady in our subdivision who has started making custom cakes. Her name's Erin McCormick (Cakes by Erin, ph 512-504-3868, email here), and she doesn't have a web site yet but I will post it if she creates one. My wife had the cool idea to make a cake like a tequila bottle, and we then thought up the idea of making a "Donna Julio Anejo" cake, based on Don Julio tequila -- this is the same tequila my friend Kevin Aymat downed in one shot, story here.

See below for the results! Note cake was actually chocolate and not tequila-flavored...link here for photo close-up of actual tequila bottle. BTW, this is a fantastic sipping tequila.

Zesty Margarita

I made a really nice margarita tonight. Though it's a Thursday night, I'm taking tomorrow off from work. So it's Friday night for me!

Tonight I made Natasha and myself my standard martini-style margarita with 4 oz tequila (Gran Centenario silver/Plata in this case), 2 oz Cointreau, juice of about 1 lime and about 1 Tbs simple syrup. This recipe size makes 2 stiff drinks (combine ingredients into shaker with lots of ice...shake and strain into large chilled martini glasses). I say "stiff" because at 3 oz of 80-proof liquor in each drink, that's the equivalent alchohol content to two 12-oz Shiner Bocks (sounds like about the right size after a rough work week!).

To spice up the standard recipe, tonight I used a zester/grater and added a little bit of the zest/skin of the lime to the shaker also. Not the entire lime -- it's easy to go overboard with too much zest. This adds a bit more of a bright citrus note on top, kind of like when you add some fresh basil on top of some pasta right before serving (or, if you prefer, some fresh cilantro on some shrimp tacos).

This margarita also reminded me how good that Gran Centenario Plata is -- outstanding! Right up there with the Patron silver and Tezon silver as my favorite tequilas for margaritas.

Dinner with good friends, Hendrick's gin, plugging their blogs

As kind of a bright spot in a rather rough last few weeks, Natasha and I had good friends Wes and Corey over for dinner / drinks Saturday night. Because of economic issues, I didn't make a bunch of 100% agave margaritas and steaks, but kept it to gin-and-tonics (my recipe here), Izze-politans (see here), and pizza, and we also had the wine they brought.

We had a really nice visit, especially after our kids went to bed (our kids were kind of loud and hyper having company over and made it tough to relax and visit earlier). We'd all been so busy lately that we had not visited much the last 4-5 weeks, and we'd missed it. I also used the occasion to get rid of the last of my Hendrick's gin -- it's good quality stuff, it just has some unusual flavors that I don't quite like in my gin taste. In fact, the label on the back of the bottle even says that it has some unusual flavors compared to more traditional gin and that "IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE" (it's in all-caps on the bottle). I find this statement to be true. Link here for more info. So I made gin-and-tonics for Wes (who'd recommended the Hendrick's) and Corey, and all were happy.

Wes said they had tried making a tequila-and-tonic on a lark and really liked it -- I'm not sure that I'm willing to try that yet with my good tequila ... maybe I'll try it with some Hornitos someday.

See here for Wes' blog, and here for Corey's.

No substitute for Cointreau

OK, in an effort to try and keep my budget for excellent drinks somewhat under control, I have often attempted to try other orange-flavored liqueurs to substitute for Cointreau, which is pretty much the most-expensive one. I think I have given up.

When I first started making margaritas, I tried Grand Marnier, but I think it's too heavy / sweet / syrupy for margaritas. GM is good straight, but seems to overpower the tequila in a rita or other mixed drink. I have since tried Bouchant, Gran Gala, Patron orange liqueur, and Paula's Texas Orange.

Of the substitutes, I think the locally-made Paula's is probably the best. In fact, it's been a long time since I have had that and may try it again. But every time I make it with Cointreau, it's just perfect and I remember why I always go back to it.

Green chile Hornitos, Don Julio Reposado

So I tried my two-chile-infused-Hornitos margarita last night, and it was perfect. Quite spicy, but not downright painful. I may even try infusing a more expensive silver tequila now that I've proven that I like it on the less-expensive Hornitos.

As a side note, I think Hornitos is probably the best tequila value. If you're using British currency, you could say that it's the best "pound-for-pound" tequila out there!

On another tequila note, I sometimes try new tequilas when my local Twin Liquors has a good special, and I really liked one I got last week. It's the Don Julio reposado. I have previously had their silver and their anejo. The anejo is an excellent snifter / sipping tequila, and the silver is pretty good (but not my favorite for margaritas -- I prefer Patron, Herradura, and Gran Centenario). But the reposado seems to be a perfect blend of the silver and the anejo -- excellent both for ritas and for sipping. Good juice!

A beautiful thing

Here's my recent green-chile-infusing experiment in progress, doubling the amount of chile from first time I tried it (it was a little mild with one, so I added two). Will taste tonight ...

Best tequila for kids?

My wife has a big birthday coming up this weekend. I won't get specific on which year it is, but suffice it to say it's one of those milestone ones that's kind of a round number.

To celebrate, I'm going to stay home with the kids so she can go have a good time with some girlfriends for the weekend. She's going to go out to eat, relax, and stay at her grandparent's house Friday and Saturday night, which is currently vacant while the grandparents are living in Rochester for the summer. (They live half the year in NY when it's hot down in Austin, then live in Austin October to May when it's nicer down here. I could definitely see doing something like that myself when I retire -- very cool.)

By the way, this would be a good place to note that my wife threw me a REALLY awesome surprise party for my 37th b-day earlier this month ... she actually surprised me, too! It was great (thanks, sweetie! I love you...)

Since I have the kids myself this weekend, I wonder what tequila the kids (ages 3, 5) would prefer? Ah, I'll probably just give em Hornitos -- don't wanna waste the Don Julio anejo with kids who can't appreciate it yet!

New Mexico Hatch green chili season margarita

When I was in grad school at UT Austin, I did an internship in the fall of 1995 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Sandia Labs. I really fell in love with the high desert -- the stark landscape, the mountains, the high-altitude air. But more importantly, the food ... chiles, to be specific. New Mexican cuisine differs from Tex Mex or other regional Mexican food, mainly in the use of green and red chiles. They impart a unique flavor to dishes like enchiladas, carne adovada (pork stewed in red chile), etc. A common question in New Mexico that waiters ask restaurant patrons is, "red or green?" referring to which type of chiles they want on their food. The best green chile comes from Hatch, NM.

This flavor used to be very hard to find outside of New Mexico, and I was a little out of luck trying to find that flavor in Austin up until a few years ago. Now, the great flavor of these chiles has caught on and you can find them in a few places. The best time to get them in Austin is right after they're harvested in New Mexico, when a few groceries and restaurants have a "Hatch Green Chile Festival". Our local "Central Market" roasts green chiles for a couple of weeks, and a local Tex Mex restaurant, Chuy's, also features lots of Hatch green chile items.

Last year, my wife's uncle Stephen told me he had tried infusing tequila with a jalapeno he smoked (making his own chipotle). That had come out really well, so I thought I'd try it with green chile. So a few days ago I got some roasted chilis from Central Market and tried it out myself on a bottle of Hornitos. Man, it is really good!

Hatch Green Chili Margarita

1 roasted Hatch green chile, peeled and de-seeded
1 bottle Sauza Hornitos tequila (or other 100% agave tequila that you like for margaritas)
Put one peeled and de-seeded roasted Hatch green chile in the bottle of tequila and let sit overnight ... maybe give it a couple of periodic shakes to agitate the chile.

In a shaker with lots of fresh ice, combine:
2 oz infused tequila
1 oz Cointreau
Juice of 1/2 to 1 fresh lime
1-2 tsp simple syrup (more or less as desired to taste)

Shake and strain into chilled martini glass (if desired straight) or over margarita glass with frsh ice in it (on the rocks).

Simple syrup is 1 part sugar to 1 part water in a saucepan, heat to boiling, stir to dissolve, cool then store in container in refrigerator.

French gin? Gin and tonic, martini recipes

French gin? Oui! Several years ago, my friend Steve made my wife and I a drink with gin in it (I don't recall exactly what it was or what brand of gin it was). I had not really tried gin before, and I didn't care for it too much at the time. My wife's feelings were a little stronger -- I seem to recall her thinking it tasted like hairspray.

Several years passed before I gave gin a try again (in a gin and tonic, see below), and now I really like it. I don't know if it was a different brand of gin that I'd tried before, or just that maybe my tastes have changed as I've gotten older and now I like the taste of hairspray!

While in our local Kyle Twin Liquors, Michael recommended I try a French gin called Citadelle. It has an even stronger flavor of the botanicals and spices that make gin what it is than Bombay Sapphire. I used to think that gin was exclusively an English drink, but the French have done something magnifique with this gin. I tend to make either gin and tonics or classic martinis. The recipes I have been enjoying lately are as follows:

Gin and tonic
These are really refreshing in hot weather, which we occasionally get in Austin. The first time I had one of these was when my wife's uncle Si made some for us on a vacation in upstate NY in 2005, where we stayed in a lodge without A/C. An unexpected heat wave hit and it was 90+F all week, rather than the mid 70s more typical of that area. This drink came in handy (Si used Bombay Sapphire). Be careful, though ... it's very easy to down 3 of these drinks before you know it!

2-3 (depending on how rough your day was) ounces of Citadelle or Bombay Sapphire gin
tumbler / highball glass full of ice
Juice of 1/2 fresh lime
Tonic water/soda

Squeeze lime over ice, add gin, top off with tonic water, give a little stir

Martini
I don't tend to prefer the super-dry martinis which have almost no vermouth ... I tend to like a ratio of about 5-7 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. I also like it a little bit dirty (with a touch of the olive juice) -- you can leave this out if you want.
Shaker with plenty of ice
2-3 oz Bombay Sapphire or Citadelle gin
1/4-1/2 oz dry vermouth
little bit of juice (maybe 1/2 tsp) from a jar of olives
2-3 olives from same jar
chilled martini glass

Add gin, vermouth, and olive juice (may leave this out if desired) to shaker. Add 2-3 olives to a chilled martini glass. Stir or shake (that's a whole other debate), pouring over the olives.

For martini snobs that insist a super-dry martini is the only way it should be made, it's interesting to note that the original martini, The Martinez, which appeared in the 1860s-1870s, was mostly sweet vermouth and sweet gin. The current martini evolved over time (source, The Idiots Guide to Mixing Drinks).

New Twist on a Cosmopolitan, the Izze-politan

My wife and I discovered a great new drink a couple of months ago. We'd always like Cosmopolitans, but we tried something new and it was a hit. She had just opened one of these "Izze" blackberry sodas, which are really great by themselves. But I wanted a drink after work, so we came up with this variation on the Cosmo. Adding the Izze at the end to the glass instead of mixing it in the shaker helps keep the carbonation in the drink that gives it a little "sparkle" on the tongue.

2 oz Stolichnaya Citro vodka
1 oz Cointreau
1 tbs simple syrup (adjust to your sweetness preference)
Juice of 1/2-1 fresh lime
1-2 oz Izze blackberry soda (chilled in fridge)

Mix vodka, Cointreau, syrup, and lime juice in shaker with lots of ice. Shake and strain into chilled martini / cocktail glass. Add Izze at end.

Another variation that tastes great is to use a good tequila (like you'd use for a margarita) in place of the vodka. Would that be an "Izze-garita"?

Margarita recipe I am enjoying lately

I used to make more of a diluted margarita with several ounces of a limeade-type mixture, but the stronger / straighter version seems to be truer to the taste of the tequila, and tastes more like the margaritas I really like at Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress. I also really like the margaritas at Z-Tejas but I have not figured out how to get that exact flavor yet.

2 oz 100% agave tequila
1 oz Cointreau
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lime freshly sqeezed (depending on how big and juicy the lime is)
Approx 1 Tbs simple syrup to taste

Put martini / margarita glass in freezer for a few minutes. Combine ingredients in shaker with lots of ice. Shake, strain into cold glass. You could also strain it into a more traditional highball / margarita glass with ice (use fresh ice, not the ice from the shaker).

Simple syrup is made by bringing to a boil in a saucepan 1 part water and 1 part sugar until sugar dissolves. Cool and save in the fridge. (I like to infuse simple syrup with fresh mint for making mint juleps or mojitos).

Tequilas I really like to use:
Sauza Hornitos, Tezon silver, Patron silver, or Gran Centenario plata (or try an anejo tequila like Sauza Commemoritivo or Don Julio anejo for a darker / oakier flavor)