A Muddled Thought

The Trilogy of Tanteo Tequila Flavor

Tequila. No more is this the same swill you did shots of during your college years(or last weekend for that matter)

Several month ago Tanteo, a soho based company released it’s new line of flavored tequilas. This line is comprised of three distinct flavors, tropical, jalapeno and chocolate.

Oddily enough two of these three flavors brought back memories of my childhood.

The tropical had hints of pineapple, and passion fruit with a mild smokey undertone. It made me wonder what fruit punch would be like, if it had grown up along side me.

The chocolate was reminiscent of milk chocolate, and reminded of a partially melted hersey bar on a summers day. How it’s warm but still tastes great.

With a love of all things spicy, the jalepeno was my favorite. Just as the name promises, it had just the right amount of spice and kick, and contained hints of cilantro. In addition to a more than expected warming sensation, after a few seconds I felt the heat of both the tequila and jalepeno work it’s way though my body.

Inspired by the recent warm weather and the jalepeno flavoring I decided to whip up a quick cocktail, known as the Tanteo Michelada.

The Tanteo Michelada

* 1 oz. Tanteo Jalapeno Tequila
* 6 oz. Dos Equis Beer
* 2 oz. Lime Juice
* 1 Tbsp chipotle

The Tanteo Michelada

I recently received some information from Lucid Absinthe which included a summer inspired recipe utilizing the lovely green nectar . When I noticed this it initially caught me by surprise, as I hadn’t thought before of using Absinthe in something meant to be refreshing. Most of my experiences with Absinthe have been with it being a secondary ingredient in cocktails or drinking it in the traditional way.

The traditional way of drinking Absinthe is known as louching. In this process, cold water and a sugar cube are dissolved into the absinthe, turning it a cloudy white color. This process is achieved by placing a sugar cube on an Absinthe spoon. After placing the sugar cube on the Absinthe spoon, you then drip 4-5oz of cool water onto the sugar cube, which dissolves it into the absinthe and creates a milky like substance. Adding water to the absinthe also brings out additional fragrances as well as flavor tones as the water opens up the absinthe. Lucid recommends 1.25oz-1.50z of Absinthe to enjoy in the traditional fashion.

An Absinthe Spoon. In the traditional way, a sugar cube is placed on this spoon over the glass.

Lucid Absinthe Before the Water and Sugar

Lucid Absinthe After the Water and Sugar

The summer cocktail mentioned previously is the Mint Muse. Lucid’s answer to the Mojito.

The Mint Muse

1 ½ oz. Lucid
2 oz. Pineapple Juice
Muddled Mint Leaves
Lime Wedge
Topped with Sprite or 7-UP

Muddle mint leaves with lime wedge and add Lucid. Add ice and pineapple juice and shake briefly. Top with Sprite or 7-UP and add mint sprig.

And for those who prefer a cocktail.that’s a bit of a classic, here are a few adapted and updated by Jim Meehan of PDT’s.

The Sazerac

Adapted from Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em. Stanley Arthur Clisby 1937.
• 2 oz rye
• 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1/2 oz simple syrup or 1 sugar cube
• 1/4 oz of LUCID®
Fill a rocks glass with ice and set aside
Add a sugar cube and the bitters to a mixing glass and crush the cube with a muddler
Add the Rye and ice and stir to chill and dissolve the sugar (20 seconds)
Dump the ice out of the rocks glass and rinse with LUCID®, discard excess
Pour the contents of the mixing glass into the LUCID® rinsed rocks glass
Twist a lemon peel over the surface of the drink and rub around the rim
Discard lemon twist

A Classic Sazerac Cocktail

Corpse Reviver #2

• 3/4 oz gin
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 3/4 oz Cointreau
• 3/4 oz Lillet Blanc
• LUCID® rinse
Add all of the ingredients except the LUCID® into a mixing glass filled with ice
Shake and strain into a chilled coupe rinsed with LUCID®
No garnish

Another Classic-The Corpse Reviver #2

Ernest Hemingway’s Infamous-Death in the Afternoon-

EARNEST HEMINGWAY’S DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON COCKTAIL
Adapted from Esquire Drink Book of 1956 edited by Frederic Birmingham
Pour 1 oz of LUCID® into a champange coupe or flute
“Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness.”

And for those of you that feel like enjoying Lucid Absinthe as a Shot:

The Absinthe Minder:

The Line up shot glasses, fill halfway with LUCID®, shake water and sugar or simple syrup with ice and strain into each glass.

I leave you with a picture of Lucid, in it’s natural environment.

Lucid-In it's natural environment.