Not Quite Mortal But Pretty Good, Nonetheless . . .

Here’s a cocktail that tastes like a lot of things, but which is solid (and I don’t care if it’s too clever by half): the Venial Sin (Mr. Boston, page 145) is six parts blanco tequila, two parts yellow Chartreuse (substituted Strega), one part Elderflower liqueur, one part maraschino and two parts mezcal.

The Old Hail Mary Never Works . . . Except When They Do!

There’s a cocktail in The PDT Cocktail Book called the “Pearl Button” (page 204) which has Cachaça, Lillet and lime juice (along with some other garnishes/additions that weren’t immediately handy). We didn’t have Cachaça, so I guessed that tequila might be good. Here’s what we did:

2 oz. tequila
3/4 oz. Lillet
1/2 oz. lime juice

It was good!

The second time we added a dash of Angostura bitters. Fine but it probably tastes better with some simple syrup, too (ours got funked the other day and I never made more).

When Cocktails Are Like Sex With Bad Pizza

The great thing about the Mr. Boston book is that there are loads of cocktail recipes that are included and it’s not completely clear whether they’re there because they exist or if there is some kind of endorsement. I assumed it was the former, that the book was intended to be a dictionary of stuff. At the same time, the nod toward curation in the accompanying text makes you wonder if they’re serious about some of these drinks. And what I like about it is that there are no “bylines,” unlike a lot of books, so it’s never really clear what’s new and what’s old.

At any rate, I would like to say that the Guadalajara (page 137) seems like a flabby, uninspired cocktail. It’s got tequila (four parts), dry vermouth (two parts) and Bénédictine (one part) and yet nothing really comes forward from that. I didn’t use a lemon twist as was called for, and maybe that would make a difference, and it’s silly for me not to have done that because there are a bunch of lemons in the fridge, but at the same time, I have such an aversion to dismembering fruit that it’s hard for me to think to go over and do such a thing.

Nothing Says “Tequila Cocktail” Like The Name Of A Major Mexican City

The Guadalajara, made with tequila, dry vermouth and Bénédictine, is a nice little drink (Mr. Boston, page 137). From our tasting panel: “flavors hard to place” and “it’s good.” The recipe calls for a lemon twist, which I think would actually benefit the drink — we nearly always omit twists and such because just no.

Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico, includes St. Louis as one of its sister cities, along with Albuquerque, Cleveland, Downey (California, in Los Angeles County), Kansas City, Lansing, Portland (Oregon), San Antonio and San Jose (California) (and also San José, Costa Rica).

I don’t know why tequila cocktails have all this cheesy Mexican imagery attached to them. Thinking about why the name “Guadalajara,” I sort of see it like calling your fantastic bourbon creation a “Paducah.” Harrumph. Then again, maybe they should do this more . . .