ORIGINAL — El Otoño

October 12, 2010 (Day 255) — El Otoño

When you think of tequila, your mind tends to drift to sun-dappled beaches, sweltering weather and backyard barbecues next to the pool. You don’t really think of the changing hues of autumn; chill brisk wind; and football games. Unless, of course it’s futbol, but wrong season in more ways than one. So naturally I was intrigued when inocente Tequila sent me my most recent bottle and they offered me up a little challenge.

“There aren’t too many tequila fall recipes,” they said.

Being as such, they asked if I could come up with something. I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge.

With predictable results...

On top of that, Jenn and I were putting up Halloween decorations tonight, so it seemed fitting to create a nice fall drink to sip. I’ve sipped on inocente in the past, and one of the nice things about it is it’s sipability. That is to say, you can sit down with it on the rocks and relax.

To put it another way, you’re average tequilas are this:

While inocente is more…

Obviously I wasn’t going to be making a tequila drink called Uncle Johnny’s Fart Cabin or Gonorrhea…

Besides, I think Snooki already has a drink named after her. Ba-ZING!

So, in order to make something classy, autumnal and fitting of the inocente brand. After heading into the mixology lab (i.e. the kitchen), I played around with some flavors and came up with what I’m hoping to be the first in a series of unique, tequila-based drinks for your sipping pleasure this fall! The first is named simply enough. After all, it’s Spanish for fall.

El Otoño

1.5 oz blanco tequila (inocente)

.5 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

3 dashes Angostura bitters

Tonic water

Pour your bitters, tequila, and liqueur into a cocktail shaker filled to the brim with crushed ice. Shake well (at least 30 seconds), then strain into a chilled champagne flute. Gently top with the tonic water, to let the bubbles mix everything together.

If mixed correctly, you’ll have a beautiful fall colored cocktail, with just a little bit of bubbliness to offset the heaviness of the base cocktail. The smoky smoothness of the tequila, mixed with the earthy, slight cherry flavor of the maraschino liqueur is delicious, but not for the uninitiated. So, interested in a fall tequila-based cocktail?

Here’s a new one for ya.

Cheers!

— Mark