Fresca Brava (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is a fun drink to make for tequila lovers looking to try something spicy for a change. There's plenty of heat here with two ounces of jalapeno-infused tequila. But the subtleties of the drink, the alpine spirit and strawberry, make a sublime spring cocktail that taste fresh and surprising, just as the name suggests. 

To make jalapeno-infused tequila, use a blanco so as to not add color. Cut up two jalapenos (the more diced the faster the flavor will infuse) and put them in a jar with the tequila for at least a day. 

One change I made to this recipe out of necessity was that I used Dolin Genepy instead of Yellow Chartreuse. I feel this was a fair move, since it isn't the color or intensity of Chartreuse that is important to this cocktail. It is better to leave the red hue of the strawberry intact, after all. But those alpine herbs and fruits need to be there to suggest cool climes and fresh air. Genepy does this in spades.

• 1 strawberry
• 2 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (jalapeno-infused Sauza 100% blue agave blanco used)
• 3/4 oz. Yellow Chartreuse
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup

Muddle strawberry in a shaker and add the remaining ingredients with ice. Shake and double strain into a coupe glass. 

Saramago (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Sometimes a cocktail is designed to invite the senses and is so well-balanced that it seduces you completely. That is what happens with this drink, a variation on the Tequila Martini. 

My issue with the Tequila Martini is that it is often too dry, too forceful to have as your first cocktail. Saramago gets you over that hump with St. Germain to sweeten and add floral essences. Dolin blanc and tequila makes for a rounder Martini than the extra dry vermouth. It gives more of a grape flavor that plays well with the herbal notes of tequila. Finally, there's just a hint of smoke from the mezcal rinse that signals the deeper pleasures to come.

• Del Maguey Vida Mezcal rinse
  
• 2 oz blanco tequila (Sauza 100% blue agave blanco used)
• 3/4 oz. Dolin blanc
• 1/2 oz. St-Germain
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)
• grapefruit twist

Rinse a coupe with mezcal and dump. Stir the remaining ingredients on ice and strain into the coupe. Twist a grapefruit zest over the drink and drop it in. 

Dos Besitos (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Sometimes tequila--and tequila recipes from speakeasy bars--are a little inaccessible for the average cocktail drinker. The trend seems to be to load up on flavors or to combine things in new and sometimes off-putting ways to get us to think differently about recipes and to appreciate new experiences.

This drink is designed to please the crowd. It tastes like a vacation, and as such brings few challenges to the bartender or drinker. And you need cocktials like this on menus. You don't want anyone feeling left out, and they won't. Not with "besitos" (little kisses) in your glass. 

• 1 oz. reposado tequila (El Jimador reposado used)
• 1 oz. blanco tequila (Sauza 100% blue agave blanco used)
  3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
  
• 1/4 oz. agave syrup (Madhava used)
• 1 tsp grenadine

Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into a coupe. 

AKA Cobbler (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is a beautiful cocktail, as Cobblers often are. Looking at the ingredients this is as much a sherry cobbler with a spicy tequila shot thrown in. It uses the juice and acidity of the strawberry to give the right balance to the other sweet and spicy ingredients. My limited success this time around (it was hard to appreciate) is probably due to the fact that strawberry season hasn't hit its stride yet. Riper berries will undoubtedly make for a better taste.

But a Cobbler is usually a winter cocktail, containing lots of ingredients designed to satisfy a sweet tooth and warm you up despite that it is served on ice. So we have Lustau East India Solera Sherry and maraschino liqueur giving liquored fruit notes, some muddled lemon twists for zestiness, and blanco tequila, a portion of which is infused with jalapeno heat. 

I'm still trying to place where this cocktail best fits in. Maybe at Death & Co. on a cold day. It's not poolside sipping or a beach drink, though. 

• 1 tsp simple syrup
• 1 tsp Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 2 lemon twists
• 1 strawberry
• 1 white sugar cube
• 1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila (Sauza 100% blue agave used)
•  1/2 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (Sauza blanco infused with jalapenos used)
• 1/2 oz. Lustau East India Solera Sherry
• 1/2 strawberry garnish

Muddle the simple syrup, maraschino liqueur, lemon twists, strawberry and sugar cube in a shaker tin. Add tequilas and sherry and whip (shake with a few pieces of crushed ice, just until the ingredients are incorporated. Dump into a double rocks glass and top with crushed ice. Garnish with the half strawberry. 

Dirty Strawberry Rocks Rita (Original Recipe)

 

There's something about enjoying an excellent Margarita done on the cheap. Strong, flavorful and packed with citrus and salt--just what the body craves. It's easy to adjust your recipe slightly and have a very different result. Here I've substituted a different flavor for the triple sec. For this recipe, I used a homemade moonshine infused with strawberries and sweetened with sugar syrup.

That's not Mother's Moonshine, whatever that is. I used the bottle to store my own strawberry moonshine for this drink. 

• 2 oz. white tequila (Sauza 100% Blue Agave use)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. strawberry moonshine
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sea salt and lime slice for garnish.

Begin buy coating the rim of an Old Fashioned glass with sea salt. Do this by rubbing a lime slice along the rim to wet it and dipping it into a saucer of coarse sea salt. Fill a shaker with the remaining ingredients and shake. Pour into the glass and garnish with the leftover slice of lime.