Time for a Drink: Sangre de Agave
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
There are certain combinations in mixology that are such perfect matches of ingredients that they spawn entire families of related drinks. Whiskey and sweet vermouth? The Manhattan, of course, but the whole family tree of Brooklyns, Slopes, Red Hooks, Saratogas, and on, and on, ad infinitum. Rum and lime? The Daiquiri along with its variations, along with an entire universe of tiki drinks. Tequila and lime? The ubiquitous Margarita, plus a likely majority of all tequila cocktails that are being served at bars across the country.
Here’s a drink that combines three of the perfect ingredient matches: the Sangre de Agave. Created by drinks writer David Wondrich and appearing in his 2005 book Killer Cocktails, the Sangre de Agave matches not only lime with both rum and tequila, but also matches tequila with the blackcurrant liqueur, crème de cassis – an ingredient that, as Wondrich notes, has almost as much affinity for tequila as the agave spirit has for triple sec. Use a decent brand of crème de cassis and a good, dark rum such as Pusser’s or Gosling’s, and the Sangre de Agave is a rich and elegant combination of perfectly matched ingredients.
Sangre de Agave
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces reposado tequila
1/2 ounce dark, heavy rum
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce crème de cassis
1/2 teaspoon simple syrup*
Procedure
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake well for 10 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
*Wondrich recommends the use of a rich simple syrup, made with two parts Demerara sugar dissolved over medium heat into one part water, then cooled before use.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
View other entries from Cocktail Concoctions.
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1 Comment:
i've seen this on a menu at a bar somewhere on avenue C.
radiatedchimp at 1:52PM on 05/11/09