By Kim
Yesterday was a good day. I found out that I won two tickets to a Casa Dragones tequila tasting from Tasting Table. This was awesome for two reasons: 1) free booze (always yay!) and 2) the event took place aboard The Freedom, a “beautifully restored, classic 1926 104-foot Mathis-Trumpy Fantail Motor Yacht.” So yes, I won tickets to a booze cruise, but hey: it was a classy booze cruise.
I’m admittedly no expert when it comes to describing wines and liquors (although my vocabulary has definitely improved since I started working in the service industry), but I thoroughly enjoyed the Casa Dragones tequila. It’s a joven (aka “young”) 100% blue agave tequila, aged for up to two months, mixed with a splash of anjeo (an older tequila, aged for 3+ years). It’s a terrifically smooth sipping tequila–simultaneously spicy and smokey. My friend Jesse said that it was “…nice!”
The tequila was served neat (and room temperature) with a shot of chilled sangrita as a chaser. I had never tried sangrita before, but the experience was revelatory–not unlike the first time I had a pickleback. Basically a super-spicy gazpacho, sangrita totally takes the edge off a tequila shot (or in this case, sip). Jesse later told me that Fatty Crab in the West Village has an amazing tequila shot/sangrita pairing. Must. Investigate.
Every bartender takes pride in their own “secret” sangrita recipe, but as long as you start out with orange juice, tomato juice, and lots of heat (tabasco, chopped jalapenos, horseradish, black pepper), you’ve got a good thing going. Here’s a recipe I found on tastetequila.com.
Sangrita de Miguel
2 cups of tomato juice
1/4 cup of orange juice
1 tbsp grenadine
5 tsp soy sauce
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
Ground pepper
Salt
Oh, and before you run out the door to grab a bottle of Casa Dragones, I should warn you: it’ll set you back a cool $250. Yeeeeah…I think Patron’s as classy as I’m going to get for now.
