Category Archives: Tequila

  • Weekly Cocktail #53: The Siesta

    June 4, 2013

    13 Comments

    The Siesta Cocktail

    The Siesta Cocktail

    It’s no surprise that when summer comes around, our taste in cocktails tends to shift towards simpler, more refreshing drinks. But it isn’t just a case of the weather (it’s nice here most of the year), it has more to do with the nature of summer, giving us plenty of free time with family and friends. Cook-outs and impromptu get-togethers mean lots of opportunities to mix quick, tasty cocktails. And since we are often mixing at someone else’s place, it is good to have some creative recipes that use common ingredients. (Trust us on this one, we once drove all over eastern Long Island trying to find a bottle of Benedictine. No Luck.)

    siesta10siesta5But using common (or at least, easily purchased) ingredients doesn’t mean you get a common cocktail. A little tweaking and tuning on classics often gives you a very tasty, complex sip, but without a lot of work. Such is the case of this week’s cocktail, the Siesta. The Siesta combines blanco tequila, Campari, lime juice, grapefruit juice and simple syrup. It lands somewhere in between a margarita and a Hemingway Daiquiri with the added bitter kick (and beautiful color) of Campari. The first sip makes it clear this is a summery drink, but the Campari and grapefruit give the depth that makes the last sip as good as the first.

    siesta4siesta3The Siesta is from the PDT Cocktail Book and mixologist Katie Stipe. As PDT recipes go, it is one of the most simple. But it is in the book to illustrate what they call an “aha!” moment when Stipe made a small tweak to a classic and ended up with something new and very, very good.

    siesta2siesta6In this case, the real tweak is adding the Campari (look in the back our your liquor cabinet, you might have some). We have a love / hate relationship with Campari (we sometimes prefer mixing with its little cousin Aperol). Too much Campari and we get ashy, syrupy flavors that kill anything else. But when Campari is used well, we get the pleasant bittersweet and fruit notes that make it a mixologist’s favorite. The Siesta uses just enough Campari that you know it’s there, but it plays nice with the tequila, lime and grapefruit. (Another drink in this category is the Jasmine, also a good summer sip).

    siestaSo when you are mixing drinks this summer, by all means go with the Margarita, daiquiri or GnT, but leave a little room to play around. Look in the back of the liquor cabinet, pantry or fridge for something a little different. Then riff on the classic. You may have your “aha” moment.

    The Siesta:

    (From Katie Stipe and the PDT Cocktail Book)

    Ingredients:

    • 2 oz. blanco tequila
    • 1/2 oz. Campari
    • 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
    • 1/2 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
    • 1/2 oz. simple syrup
    • Grapefruit twist, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until will chilles and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with the grapefruit twist. Serve.
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  • Mixology Monday LXX Roundup: Inverted

    February 22, 2013

    46 Comments

    Stir and Strain’s El Jardin de Mi Abuela.

    Another Mixology Monday has come and gone, but this time we were hosting. Thanks again to everyone who participated and to Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut for reviving and maintaining Mixology Monday.

    mxmologoThe theme was “inverted”, and we will spare you the full back story (post here) and just say the theme was intended to see if we could “flip drinks on their heads” any and all possible ways. And the Mixology Monday crowd certainly delivered. We saw drinks “inverted” on name, spirits, solid/liquid (ice was well used), colors, layers and temperatures. All good stuff. We are “working” our way through as many of the cocktails as we can, and many are very good.

    As for us, we found this theme somewhat more challenging than expected. We created two drinks, but also failed repeatedly to make our third, a champagne-based cocktail that tasted and looked like Napa Cabernet (some things simply aren’t meant to be, and who wants a cocktail to taste like wine anyway?). Oh well. In any event, here are all the cocktails (mostly) in the order we got them:

    BarFlySF gave us three cocktails that invert classics using light instead of dark spirits. We like their use of homemade limoncello as a substitute for darker liqueurs. Their Union Square inverted the New Orleans classic the Vieux Carre.unionsquare1

    BarFlySF then took up our challenge to invert the Manhattan and created the Nemo.

    nemo

    And finally, BarFlySF, added another post and inverted the classic Brandy Sidecar and created the Pisco Pedicab. Extra points for use of blood oranges.pisco1

    ——

    Shake Strain and Sip took the inverted theme to another place altogether and put the drink inside an ice-cube. The Alice’s Looking Glass is a very cool, and very tasty, creation with rye and Aperol in the lead. (We made it with regular ice, still great).——

    901 Very Good Cocktails managed to create a cocktail, discuss the Butthole Surfers (a band from our youth, yes we are that old) and even promote the idea of moderation. We are all for moderation….in moderation.  The Shah Sleeps Cocktail inverts standard cocktail proportions and leads with Amaro Montenegro.Shah

    ——

    The Shorter Straw applied the inverted theme to the Super Bowl (we would still like to invert that outcome) and gave us the 35th Minute. The lights went out during the 35th minute of the game and we certainly would have liked to sip this beautiful Rhum Agricole-based cocktail while we waited.

    ——-

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  • Mixology Monday Cocktail: Long Island Planter’s Punch (LIPP)

    September 14, 2012

    31 Comments

    Long Island Planter’s Punch.

    One of the cooler things in the cocktail blogging world has to be Mixology Monday, an “online cocktail party” where cocktail enthusiasts submit and share cocktails to fit an ever-changing theme. Paul Clarke of Cocktail Chronicles and Imbibe! ran Mixology Monday for 6 years (Wow- thanks Paul!) and just handed off the reins to Frederic Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut. (BTW- a shameless plug for Frederic’s new Boston Cocktail book “Drink and Tell”- see here). So here is the theme:

    For this month, I have chosen the theme of equal part cocktails — those simple drinks where only one jigger is needed despite how many ingredients are added. These recipes have gained a lot of popularity as classics like the Negroni and Last Word have resurfaced, and variations of these equal part wonders have become abundant.

    LIPP as a “long” drink.

    Indeed they have. We have already posted on the Last Word and a very tasty variant with Apricot Shrub (that we made) based on a cocktail from Bar Terra. But seeing as how the Last Word has been revised dozens of times, we decided to look at other classic cocktails and see what we could do. We tried Corpse Reviver #2 variants with gin, grapefruit, Aperol and Lillet Rose’- good but better in unequal proportions. We also played with the Scofflaw, one of our recent faves, that included genever, rye, lemon, grenadine and dry vermouth. A very good drink, but the genever takes over so it was just a “genever scofflaw”. Ok, but not what we were after. But as a side bonus, we did make our own grenadine.

    Hard at “work” in the office…

    About that time, we decided that mining “classics” for ideas wasn’t going so well and perhaps another approach was in order. So if “classics” weren’t working, how about drawing inspiration from somewhat cheesier ”less iconic” cocktails. And this very quickly brought us to the Long Island Iced Tea. We recently posted on the drink from Long Island, it is way better than it should be, and it uses roughly equal parts. But what to do with the homemade grenadine? Well, how about subbing the grenadine for Coke?  Kind of like Planters Punch (another semi-uncool cocktail) or a Bacardi Cocktail…and since the seasons are changing how about a little spice from a dash of bitters? (The rules allow it). And finally, the drink was boozy enough so we dropped the vodka, as we still had plenty of other spirits in the drink.

    Ingredients for Long Island Planter’s Punch

    And the Long Island Planters Punch was born. (And yes the LIPP is a riff on the L.I.R.R.- Long Island Railroad) The LIPP combines equal amounts of white Demerara rum (El Dorado), reposado tequila (Cazadores), dry gin (Tanqueray) , Cointreau (or another triple-sec), lime juice and grenadine, with a dash of Fees Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters (you can sub Angostura). And we garnish with a lime wedge for a little aroma and extra presentation. And one last note, if you can’t make your own grenadine, a “real pomegranate” grenadine will be much better, as the corn-syrup based versions are way too sweet.

    And the flavor of the cocktail? We like it very much. You get the lime juice, tequila and Cointreau up front and then the herbal flavors of the gin and sweet rum and grenadine fill-in and finally you get the spice of the bitters. A good sip, and just like the Long Island Iced Tea, it tastes much less boozy than it really is. And you can serve the LIPP as a cocktail or a long drink, it works either way. The LIPP is so tasty, we wondered if we should rename it and not mention its less-than-stellar cocktail forebears. But just as we still love our Dads, even though they mowed the lawn every Sunday in khaki shorts, black socks and sandals, we will proudly acknowledge the LIPP’s heritage.

    The Long Island Planter’s Punch (LIPP)

    Ingredients:

    (For 1 cocktail, double for a “long” version of the drink)

    • 1/2 oz. White rum (El Dorado Demerara)
    • 1/2 oz. Reposado tequila (Cazadores)
    • 1/2 oz. Dry gin (Tanqueray)
    • 1/2 oz. Triple-sec (Cointreau)
    • 1/2 oz. Fresh lime juice
    • 1/2 oz Grenadine (homemade- see below, or “real pomegranate”)
    • 1 dash Fee’s Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters
    • Lime wedge, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, coupé or flute. Garnish with lime wedge. Serve.

    -or-

    1. For a “long version” of the drink. Double the recipe and combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a large tumbler, highball or pint glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge.

    —-

    Grenadine:

    (Adapted from Cocktail Chronicles and David Wondrich)

    Notes:

    • This is a “cold-process” version of Grenadine. There are also boiled versions, but we prefer the fresher flavors of the cold version.
    • You can use superfine sugar to be sure the sugar will dissolve in the pomegranate juice. You will get a bit more sugar, by weight, so check the flavor of the grenadine after the first mixing before adding any more sugar.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 part white sugar
    • 1 part pure, unsweetened pomegranate juice
    • 1 tablespoon of vodka or grain alcohol per cup of syrup (optional)

    Assemble:

    1. Place the juice and sugar in a jar with a good lid and seal. Shake well until sugar dissolves in the juice. Taste and add sugar, by tablespoon, to balance flavor.
    2. Add the vodka or grain alcohol, if using. Store in the fridge.
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  • Weekly Cocktail #24: Long Island Iced Tea

    August 9, 2012

    30 Comments

    Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail.

    Well, “when in Rome…” And in this case, “when in Long Island….make Long Island Iced Tea”.

    While this cocktail is much tastier than you might think, there is no tea in this drink, and there is nothing “long” about it. “Long” drinks usually denote cocktails that are less boozy and often served in higher volumes, like a Pimms Cup or Dark n Stormy (a Diablo is also a good long drink). Long drinks often make for good summer cocktails, as you can sip them over a lazy afternoon. But with the Long Island Iced Tea, you can sip one over a full afternoon and still feel like you had a Three-Martini lunch…umm… make that a four-martini lunch.

    Many ingredients, but most are easy to find or are in your bar right now.

    The trick with the Long Island Iced Tea (Latin translation: needus designus driverus) is that most recipes suggest anywhere from four to seven ounces of high-proof spirits per drink (most cocktails have two ounces)- but you really don’t taste the booze. The Long Island Iced Tea tastes good (very good if you tweak the recipe), and goes down way to easy for its own (and your own) good.

    Most recipes suggest an ounce to an ounce-and-a-half each of gin, vodka, tequila, rum and triple sec, with some lemon, simple syrup and a splash of coke. We include that recipe below, but it is a bit sweet for most. And while it tastes good, most of the attraction is of the “I can’t believe this drink is smooth with so much booze” category. Our version lightens the drink somewhat (not much) but omits the triple sec and adds more lemon and coke. Usually we don’t mess with original recipes without changing the name of the cocktail. But there are literally dozens of variations on the Long Island Iced Tea (see here, if curious), so whats one more version of the recipe?

    Long Island Iced Tea and ingredients.

    As for the spirits used in the recipe, there is no need for anything special. Decent, inexpensive rum, gin, tequila and vodka will do fine. The real alchemy of the drink is how the spirits mesh, if you add something too good, or aged, it won’t help and may actually harm the drink- and why waste the money? If you do want the best result, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup will work better, but sour mix will work in a pinch. All recipes suggest Coke, and that’s what we use, but any decent cola should be fine. And serve with lots of ice, the dilution helps the drink, and softens the booze (a tiny bit). And in the end, you have a very tasty drink that is a good summer sip. Think rum and coke, but with more tartness, depth and complexity. Just be careful if you have more than one.

    A few too many and you may end up looking like this…

    As for the history of this drink, there are simply too many stories to know where it came from. TGI Fridays claims they invented it (doubtful), but bars from Long Island to Tennessee also claim to be the creators. And to make matters worse, the timeframe varies anywhere from the 1920′s to 1970′s. But since neither tequila or vodka were common in the states until the 1950′s, we suspect the Long Island Iced Tea is a more recent creation. But perhaps fittingly, after a few of these cocktails, no one would remember anyway… ;-)

    The Long Island Iced Tea: (Our version)

    Ingredients:

    • 3/4 oz. white rum
    • 3/4 oz. blanco tequila
    • 3/4 oz. dry gin
    • 3/4 oz. vodka
    • 3/4 oz. lemon juice
    • 1/4 oz. simple syrup
    • 2-3 oz. cola
    • Lemon wheel, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine the spirits, lemon juice and simple syrup in a highball or Collins glass with lots of ice. Mix and then top with the cola. Add the lemon wedge and serve.

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  • The Farm At The Beach

    July 31, 2012

    11 Comments

    Breathe. Relax. Read a book.

    Well, we are back. Or at least settled. We are now at our “home-away-from-home” on the east end of Long Island. One of our favorite places in the world. I guess you can call it a “home” because we have plenty of friends and family here, and we pretty much know where everything is. That may seem simplistic, but part of being comfortable is familiarity. We cooked in three different kitchens in the last thee days but pretty much knew where everything was. Other people’s kitchens are a tough place to cook, but we know our way around. We can get back to business. But before we cooked, the first business was meeting the two newest members of our extended family. Beautiful babies and happy, if somewhat tired, parents. We can almost field a football team with all the cousins- which is very, very cool. We are so blessed and lucky, and the babies give us a reminder of just how good life is. And they are cute, too.

    Radishes are in season here, and very tasty.

    And we did get back to cooking. In many of our posts, we mention that certain dishes and drinks are good for a crowd. Well, we put a few to the test already. Most meals over the weekend fed groups of 15-20. So far, so good- but we do have a few notes and revisions. And, happily, mostly to the good. As for the actual food, we tend to have simply prepared fish and shellfish as our main courses. Seared ahi tuna, roasted striped bass, sea scallops and steamed clams made it to the table over the weekend, and will be part of almost every dinner this week. Most were caught within the last day or so. The fish is so fresh you don’t need to do much (just don’t screw them up), so we focused on sides that highlight the seafood or feature the local produce.

    The coconut rice goes well with the local fish. A big hit- we will make this throughout the trip.

    Firstly, we had fresh local radishes and served them with butter and salt. Always easy, always good. (My Dad also makes kick-ass guacamole every day, but that is another post). The biggest hit so far is the coconut rice. The rice went very well with the seared, rare ahi tuna (steaks almost 2 inches thick and sooo good). Served with a dash of soy and some cilantro chutney (working on that recipe), it was a perfect fit. A table of 16 were all very happy. One note here, we made the coconut rice with “Light” coconut milk, as the store was out of regular coconut milk. If anything, the light coconut milk gave the dish plenty of flavor, but perhaps a slightly lighter texture. Good to know that we can make a lower-calorie version of the original.

    We added fresh corn kernels to the Red Cat zucchini- it was great.

    Another surprise was how well the coconut rice went with the Red Cat zucchini. The dish comes from here, so everyone enjoyed it (the zucchini was right from the CSA), but as the dish is more Mediterranean, we are surprised how well the flavors meshed. Another note here- we added some fresh corn kernels to the zucchini and they added lovely texture and sweetness. If you have corn, give this a try. The next day we took the leftover coconut rice and combined it with the zucchini and corn. It made a delightful cold summer salad.

    As for the cocktails, we made fresh Tommy’s-style margaritas every day (2 oz. blanco tequila, 1 oz. gave nectar, 1 oz. lime juice). But the big hit was the Lani Honi. As predicted, everyone thought of it as a lemony summer punch with a little extra depth. We served a pitcher alongside the margaritas and the Lani Honi held its own. We had requests for more the next day. Very good.

    As expected, a perfect drink to make for a crowd.

    Lastly we made a punch-sized batch of the Nouvelle Fleur. The drink was a success, but did need some tweaking. In the original recipe we used ruby-red grapefruit and the flavors meshed very well. Out here, we used white grapefruit and the drink was way too sour. Happily, a little extra St. Germain and some agave nectar did the trick and the Nouvelle Fleur was a success, particularly with grapefruit fans. But a quick reminder that it pays to taste your drinks and adjust as necessary.

    A great punch, but we needed to adjust for more sour white greapefruit.

    Today we are off to the CSA garden and then looking for corn and stone fruits. And just wait until we start talking about the pies…oh my. We have new photos and recipes coming all week! It’s good to be back.

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  • Weekly Cocktail #15: The Nouvelle Fleur

    June 8, 2012

    12 Comments

    Nouvelle Fleur Cocktail.

    We generally try to make our weekly cocktails out of readily available ingredients (we have the bonus posts for the crazy stuff), but this week we need to make an exception. The Nouvelle Fleur is a drink that will send many of you to the liquor store, but it really is worth the trip. The reason is that the Nouvelle Fleur is not only a good cocktail, but a recipe that easily becomes a great summer punch. So we think a punch that pleases a dozen guests is worth the extra effort.

    The extra effort comes from a somewhat long list of ingredients. The Nouvelle Fleur combines St. Germain, blanco tequila, Aperol, lime juice, grapefruit juice, a pinch of salt and is topped by sparking wine. Now many people will not have St. Germain or Aperol in their bar, but both are worthy additions. St. Germain is a low-proof elderflower liqueur that is sweet with floral and pear notes. St. Germain is a popular ingredient with mixologists and is often used as a more floral substitute for Cointreau or triple-sec in cocktails. Aperol is an Italian apéritif that is similar to Campari, but much less bitter and with lower alcohol. Aperol has pleasant citrus, bitter and herbal notes (maybe even rhubarb) that add depth to many cocktails without the outright dominance of Campari. Aperol plays very well with tequila, as we noted earlier with the Chica Facil.

    The overall combination of aromas and flavors in the Nouvelle Fleur truly stand out. The aroma is mostly, and pleasantly, grapefruit with a bit of floral from the St. Germain. As for the flavor, the sweetness of the St. Germain is matched by the citrus of the lime and grapefruit juice. The Aperol and grapefruit lend bitter and herbal notes and the champagne keeps the drink light and refreshing. The salt provides a subtle kick that keeps you coming back. Everyone who tries this drink loves it, particularly for summer.

    Nouvelle Fleur and ingredients.

    And there is another summer bonus. The Nouvelle Fleur isn’t a boozy drink, only the tequila is a high-proof spirit and there’s only 1/2 ounce in the recipe. Otherwise all the ingredients are under 20% alcohol. This lends really well to making a light summer punch. Simply add the same proportion of ingredients to a punch bowl, top with champagne or sparking wine and add a big block of ice. Now you have a tasty punch for a crowd that packs plenty of flavor, but won’t have them falling in the pool….

    As for the actual recipe, it comes from the Eastern Standard, a restaurant in Boston. We are far from Boston, but since we are avid readers of Cocktail Virgin Slut, we get the scoops, and this recipe, from one of the best cocktail towns in the country. Sometimes you just have to love the internet. But the Nouvelle Fleur is such a good drink, we may need to visit Eastern Standard in person and sample the rest of their cocktails….Maybe we will catch a game at Fenway as well.

    The Nouvelle Fleur:

    Ingredients:

    • 1 oz. St. Germain
    • 1/2 oz. blanco tequila
    • 1/2 oz. Aperol
    • 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
    • 1/2 oz. fresh pink grapefruit juice
    • 1 pinch of salt
    • 2 oz. Champagne or sparking wine

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the ingredients, except the Champagne, in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake thoroughly. Strain into a cocktail glass, flute or coupé.
    2. Top with the Champagne and serve. No garnish.