Cocktail O’Clock: Salsa Verde

Find yourself with leftover tequila from Cinco de Mayo? Here’s a way to use it up that won’t make you gag on a moldy lime.

Firefly in Washington, D.C. infuses tequila with poblano peppers (how-to here), then mixes it up with cilantro and lime for a garden-fresh cocktail that makes drinking on Monday sound downright healthy.

Salsa Verde

1.5 oz. Partida Blanco tequila infused with roasted poblano peppers (how-to here)
1 oz. Cointreau
2 oz. fresh lime juice
2 oz. cilantro-agave puree (agave syrup blended with a few springs of cliantro)

Shake together and strain over ice into a Collins glass with a peppered salt rim.

Find more creative drink recipes in Endless Cocktails.

(Photo: Dakota Fine)

Cocktails Gone Spherical

Now that “handcrafted” cocktails have become about as commonplace as craft beer, bartenders and bloggers are looking for new ways to impress. You might think molecular mixology is gimmicky, but you gotta admit that these 8 cocktail spheres look pretty amazing.

 1. Old Fashioned In the Rocks

At Grant Achatz’ Aviary in Chicago the old fashioned comes neat — very neat. Drinkers get to smash the sphere open and watch the drink explode out.

2. Spherical Pickleback

Just about every bar in Brooklyn now serves a pickleback (a shot of whiskey backed by a shot of pickle juice). Only Do or Dine—home of the foie gras donut—serves a molecular pickleback, whereby the back — the spherical ball of pickle juice — explodes inside your mouth.

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Cocktail O’Clock: A Margarita for Winter

We’re always looking for new ways to use strawberries, and blending them up and mixing them with tequila is most definitely appropriate — even if it’s not summer. This new cocktail recipe, which is sort of like a strawberry margarita, only heated up for winter, comes courtesy of Sable Kitchen and Bar in Chicago.

Winter Whisper
1 oz Siete Leguas Tequila Reposado
1 oz Luxardo Amaro
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz dried strawberry syrup (recipe follows)
2 dashes strawberry-allspice bitters

Preheat Irish coffee glass or mug with hot water. Heat all ingredients over a double boiler, do not heat directly.  Dump out hot water from irish coffee glass, add ingredients, top with 3 oz very hot water.  Garnish with a tiny pinch of freshly ground allspice.

*Dried Strawberry syrup
2 cups freeze-dried strawberries
2 cups sugar

Blend dried strawberries and sugar in high-speed blender until well combined. Add 2 cups hot water, stir to combine. Strain and chill.

Loads more creative cocktail ideas in Endless Cocktails.

Photo credit: Andrea Donadio

Cocktail O’Clock: Happy Repeal Day

The worst thing about Monday is that even though it’s universally acknowledged as the hardest day of the week, it’s somehow also the one on which it’s least socially acceptable to drink.

But wait a minute — us boozehounds have the upper hand this week, because Monday marks the 78th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition, which we’re pretty sure is a national holiday. Enjoy this original cocktail recipe — The Rodriguez Sour — from Kevin Diedrich of Jasper’s Corner Tap & Kitchen in San Francisco, or find your favorite poison in Endless Cocktails.

Rodriguez Sour

2 oz Partida Blanco tequila
.75 oz Lime
.75 oz Pineapple juice
.5 oz Jalapeno syrup
.25 oz Green Chartreuse

Shake all ingredients together.

Strain and pour into a rocks glass.

Garnish with slices of jalapeño.

Cocktail O’Clock: Welcoming the Season

With the weather turning ever slightly colder, it’s time to start thinking about hot drinks. And by hot drinks, of course we mean spiked coffee.

Café Pacifico

1 1/2 oz Partida Blanco tequila
½ oz Coffee liqueur
4 oz Freshly brewed, hot coffee
3 Bar spoons of cinnamon and sugar mixture (4 parts granulated white sugar to 1 part ground cinnamon, mixed together)
Heavy cream

Add tequila and coffee to a warm glass. Mix in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Float heavy cream on top of the coffee. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar on top and a cinnamon stick.

Cocktail O’Clock: A Heated Affair

Now that apple season is officially here (and apple recipes are officially everywhere) it’s just about time for a nice hot cider.  And what hot drink couldn’t be made better with a little tequila?

Jacques Bezuidenhout, brand ambassador for Tequila Partida, sent over this recipe for making your own apple cider, plus a cocktail creation that kicks that cider up quite a few notches.

Heated Affair

2 oz Partida Anejo Tequila
6 oz Hot Spiced Apple Cider
Heavy Cream

Apple Cider Preparation:
In a pot add organic apple juice. Add winter spices like cloves, cinnamon stick, all spice, and orange peel. Start of by adding a few cloves, one cinnamon stick, etc…so as to find the right-spiced apple cider flavor. You can always add more spice later. Bring everything to a low heat for about 15 mins. Taste for flavor. When the desired flavor is reached then take off stove. Strain out all the spices and orange peel.

In a small warm wine glass add Tequila and hot apple cider. Float heavy cream.

Garnish: Grate fresh Nutmeg over cream.

Find more drink ideas in Endless Cocktails.

Cocktail O’Clock: Tequila + Balsamic

Who says tequila is made for margaritas only? This sweet and savory summer cocktail mixes the hard stuff with fresh strawberries, basil, lime juice and — for an extra foodie touch — balsamic vinegar. We approve.

Corzo Italian Sipper

1 ¼ oz. Corzo Silver
2 strawberries
1 sprigs of fresh basil
4 drops of balsamic
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
2 oz. distilled water
2 packets of Splenda or similar or 1 oz Agave Nectar

Serve over the rocks in an 8 oz. glass

Method: In a mixing glass muddle fresh strawberries and basil, add the rest of the ingredients with ice, shake 20 times and serve in a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with a fresh spring of basil.

Find more summer-y cocktail ideas in Endless Cocktails.

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