MxMo: Fortified Wines

It's Mixology Monday time again, unfortunately I've had to skip the last couple of them but we are back with 

a new drink. This month's theme is fortified wines.  My entry this month is the Puerto Anticado.  Lately I've been playing around with mixing up variations on the old fashioned. I've been using my Christmas presents to play with different bitters, different spirits and different sweeteners.This has been everything from using rum, rye, or even some aged Wigle Whiskey.  I've really enjoyed that so long as you stick to a pretty straight forward recipe and use quality ingredients you are reasonably assured of coming up with a satisfying after dinner drink. I was trying out using some resposado tequila, Maestro Dobel Diamond to be precise, with some of the jalapeno syrup from the B'ak'tun, and Bittermen's Xocolatl Mole bitters. Just as I was finishing up, my ship's decanter full of tawny port caught my eye. On a whim I decided to add some of that to the drink. It turned out a lovely color and the flavors melded well with some very nice depth to it. For once my luck worked out in such a way that it was the next day that the MxMo theme for the month was announced and my drink fit nicely. 

Puerto Anticado

1.5 oz Resposado Tequila (Maestro Dobel Diamond)

1 oz tawny port

.5 oz jalapeno syrup 

4d mole bitters (Bittermen's)

stir with ice strain into a rocks glass with service ice. 

Mayan Mixology Meltdown 5: B'ak'tun

The end of the world is nigh, so we're going to take a make up a few Mexican/Mayan inspired drinks to help make the coming apocalypse easier to deal with.

This is it my friends, assuming that we haven't already been wiped out in a cataclysm, it's only a matter of time now before the end of the world. I hope that it's been a good one for you. In the event that we are still here to read this, let's work on easing that transition with a nice drink to celebrate what it is that is coming to an end today. December 21, 2012 marks the end of the 13th B'ak'tun, or the long count in the Mesoamerican calendar. A b'ak'tun is comprised of 144,000 days, or about 394 years. On the winter solstice of the year 2012 (CE) the current b'ak'tun will be completed. Obviously this means the end of the world, just as the completion of the millennium signals the end in the western calendar.

To honor the end of it all by what I can only assume will be a meteor strike or some other sort of astral destruction we have the final drink the B'ak'tun (or Long Count). We feature a flaming lime shell for the fiery daeth coming from the sky, soda water for the boiling oceans, and some jalapeno syrup for the burning sensation sure to accompany our destruction.

B'ak'tun, (long count)

1.5 oz resposado Tequila

1 oz blanco tequila

1 oz pineapple juice

.75 oz jalapeno syrup*

.5 oz Orange Juice

.5 oz Lime Juice

.5oz 151 rum

2 oz seltzer

Shake everything save the rum and seltzer with crushed ice. Top glass with seltzer water, fill the spent lime shell with rum and light. 

*To make the jalapeno syrup make a 2:1 simple syrup and add 2 sliced jalapeno chiles per cup of sugar. You can control the heat of the jalapeno with the seeds and inner membranes. If you like thing spicy throw in the whole lot, if you want just a little heat and more fruit flavor, remove the seeds and the white inner membrane. As soon as the sugar is dissolved into the water add the jalapenos and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain and allow to cool. 

Mayan Mixology Meltdown 3: Human Sacrifice

The end of the world is nigh, so we're going to take a make up a few Mexican/Mayan inspired drinks to help make the coming apocalypse easier to deal with.

As we discussed with the cenote, on occasion the Mayans sacrificed young men to the gods. That it was generally young men sacrificed, suggests that the sacrifices were meant to represent strength and power, as opposed to representing fertility by sacrificing young women. Another key component of the Mayan mythology was the odd ballgame played in Mesoamerica. This game is believed to be part of worship to the gods, a way of demonstrating the fitness of the participants, with the losers often sacrificed to the gods. 

Given this history of human sacrifice, clearly, we will need our own Human Sacrifice before the end. 

Human Sacrifice

1.5 oz blanco tequila

2 oz pineapple juice

1 oz passion fruit

.5 oz triple sec

.25 oz Herbsaint (or absinthe)

.25oz grenadine

Shake everything but grenadine with crushed ice. Float grenadine on top, garnish with cilantro.

Once again hit up Rated R Cocktails tomorrow for JFL's continuation of the mayhem.

Mayan Mixology Meltdown 1: Cenote

The end of the world is nigh, so we're going to take a make up a few Mexican/Mayan inspired drinks to help make the coming apocalypse easier to deal with.

 First up we're going to explore a key part of the Mayan religion, the cenote.  Cenotes are deep sinkholes or pits full of fresh water in the Yucatan Peninsula  Geologists think that they are tied to the Chicxulub crater, which is believed to be the impact of the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. The Mayans believed that these pits were entrances to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. The Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza has been found to contain numerous sacrifices to the gods, including human sacrifices. If we want to get into the mindset of the Mayans that foretold our doom, we need to explore the cenote. 

Cenote

2 oz coconut water

1.5 oz Blanco Tequila

1 oz lemon juice

.5 oz lime juice

.5 oz Blue Curacao

.5 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice and then strain into a chimney glass

Tomorrow JFL continues the Meltdown on Rated R Cocktails