July Recipe of the Month: Agave Ranch Water

We should warn you, agave ranch water just might become your favorite summer cocktail!

In honor of National Tequila Day—which is coming up on July 24th—we’re sharing our take on a modern tequila classic. Ranch water is a super-simple cocktail with only three basic ingredients: blanco tequila, lime juice, and Topo Chico mineral water. No one knows for sure where the original recipe came from, but we’re excited to share our modest improvement, agave simple syrup. The beauty of blanco tequila is that it retains a lot of the pure essence of the agave plant it’s made from. Adding a little agave syrup punches up that agave flavor while also allowing you to make your ranch water the perfect amount of sweet!

Although we list exact measurements in this recipe, feel free to eyeball it. The cocktail is very forgiving, and practically any proportions you come up with will be delicious. Try leaving out the syrup at first, then gradually mixing it in to taste.

 Agave Ranch Water

INGREDIENTS (Serves 1)

                3 oz blanco tequila

                1 lime for juice (plus more for garnish)

                Topo Chico mineral water, chilled

                Splash of agave syrup

DIRECTIONS

Fill a highball glass with ice.  Add tequila and lime juice. Top off with mineral water and a small splash of syrup. Stir. Keep adding syrup to taste. Garnish with lime wedge or slice.

 PRO TIPS

• No need to buy a super-expensive brand of tequila for this drink; a mid-level tequila like Casamigos or Espolòn is perfect!

• You can use any brand of mineral water, but Topo Chico really is excellent in ranch water.

• If you want more of a margarita vibe, rim your glass with Tajin before you add ice.

• To kick up the heat, muddle a slice or two of jalapeño in your glass before adding the ice.

Salud!

Shaken or Stirred?

Super-spy James “007” Bond famously orders his martinis “shaken, not stirred.” But another fictional character, President Bartlet from the show West Wing, claims that Mr. Bond has it all wrong. “Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth,” Martin Sheen’s character opines. “James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.” So what’s the right way to mix a martini? Shaken or stirred?

Or is there a better way?

SHAKING VERSUS STIRRING

When you’re mixing cocktails, the method you use depends on how you want your drink to feel, taste, and look.

Temperature: Martinis (like many other cocktails) have to be served ice-cold; otherwise they can taste overpowering. Either shaking or stirring can get a cocktail cold, but shaking does it much faster. For example, it takes about 12 seconds of shaking to chill a martini to the ideal temperature of 20°F. By contrast, it takes a full 20 seconds or more of stirring to reach the same temperature. If you’re ordering your drink at a busy bar, a bartender who is rushing to serve a line of impatient customers may not take the time to stir your drink completely.

Maybe this is the reason James Bond insists on his drinks being shaken: he doesn’t want a busy bartender to serve him a martini that, temperature-wise, is less than ideal.

Taste: The downside to shaking a martini is that it causes more ice to melt, which dilutes the drink. Additionally, some connoisseurs believe that shaking a gin martini can “bruise” the gin and give it a sharper taste. However, both of these objections are matters of personal preference. Some people like their martinis watered down, and some don’t taste anything wrong with shaken gin. It’s up to you.

In James Bond’s case, maybe he wants his drinks diluting so that he can better keep his wits about him. But if he’s really all that concerned about staying sharp, perhaps he ought to cut back on the enormous amount of alcohol he consumes!*

Appearance: There is a general consensus among bartenders that if you’re making a cocktail where all the ingredients are clear (like a martini, Manhattan, or negroni), you should stir it. Shaking a drink will mix in air bubbles, which make the drink look cloudy. Shaking will also chip off small pieces of ice that further cloud the drink’s appearance. On the other hand, when you’re mixing a drink with opaque ingredients like eggs, milk, or fruit juice, shaking can give the drink a nice bubbly frothiness.   

To sum up:

·         If you want your cocktail watered down, shake it.

·         If you want it to stay crystal clear, stir it.

·         If you want it cold, either method works, but make sure you stir for at least 20 seconds.

But Is There a Way to Get the Best of Both?

Yes! There is a way to make your martinis cold, concentrated, and clear.

Leave your gin or vodka in the freezer prior to mixing your drinks. Chill your glassware as well. (You can also chill your vermouth and olives in your fridge, but don’t make the mistake of putting those in the freezer.) By chilling all your components first, you can make your martini as cold as you like while also having complete control over how concentrated you want your drink to be. Since this method doesn’t use ice at all, you don’t have to guess how much ice has melted. All you have to do is add exactly enough cold water to suit your taste.  No ice, no ice chips, no guesswork, no fuss. Perfect!

Earnest Hemingway, who was almost as famous for his drinking as he was for his fiction, reputedly made “the coldest martini in the world.” He would pre-chill his glasses and ingredients, including the Spanish cocktail onions he liked to use for garnish. (He also made huge ice balls by freezing water in tennis ball tubes.)

*A Little (Sad) History

Bond’s famous drinking habits seem to have been modeled on the habits of his author, Ian Fleming. Over the course of the fourteen Bond books that Fleming wrote, Bond consumes, on average, 52.6 standard drinks per week—the equivalent of seven and a half glasses of wine every day. Considering that his alcohol consumption was almost four times over the recommended amount for men, Mr. Bond was certainly living dangerously.

But Fleming’s own drinking eclipsed that of his famous character. Fleming reported drinking as much as a bottle of gin per day, the equivalent of nearly four bottles of wine!

Sadly, Fleming passed away at the age of 56 from heart disease.  

Popsicle Cocktails

When we were kids, ice-cold popsicles were the perfect way to beat the summer heat.  Why not give that childhood treat an adult update: Popsicle Cocktails?

For your next summer party, let your guests pair their favorite cocktail with a choice of fruity, frozen confections. Spike the lemonade with vodka, whiskey, or rum, and it will go beautifully with a raspberry or cherry popsicle. Dip a watermelon popsicle into a classic margarita or mojito, or pour prosecco over any flavor of popsicle and you’ll have a cool, refreshing blast from the past!

Whatever your summer drink of choice is (daiquiri, sangria, aperol spritz, gimlet, frosé, etc.), there’s a flavorful popsicle that can make it even more fun and refreshing.

April Recipe of the Month: Rhubarb Rickey

April marks a time of rebirth and fresh beginnings. Our recipe of the month is a fresh, sparkling celebration of spring and the beginning of rhubarb season. This Rhubarb Rickey balances the unique tart flavor of rhubarb with warm notes of vanilla bean and a complement of fresh lime juice. Trust us, it tastes as fun and refreshing as it looks!

Directions (Serves 1)

In a rocks glass filled with ice, add:

1.5 oz. gin (vodka works great, too)

1 oz. rhubarb-vanilla bean syrup

1 oz. fresh lime juice 

Top with sparkling water

For the syrup, you will need:

4-6 fresh rhubarb stalks, chopped (the deepest red stalks make the most vibrant colored syrup!)

2 cups water

1.5 cups sugar

1-2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

Add rhubarb and water to a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until the rhubarb is soft.

Strain out the cooked fruit, add sugar and vanilla beans to the infused water, and simmer for around 10 minutes.

Cool the syrup and remove the vanilla bean pods before using in your cocktail.

Pro Tips:

• A variation on Rhubarb Rickey that’s been very popular with our clients is to add fresh strawberries or raspberries. Just muddle four raspberries (or one sliced strawberry) in the bottom of the glass. Then add the ice and other ingredients, stirring lightly to incorporate the berries into the cocktail and add a vivid red color. You can also garnish the drink with a mint sprig or with a couple of raspberries on top.

• There’s no need to use the highest quality of vanilla beans in this recipe because the heat extraction will get great flavor even out of Class B beans. Also, you can use your beans to make vanilla extract before reusing them for this simple syrup.

• If you want to add a spectacular visual flair, garnish with thin, curled strips of candied rhubarb ribbons. You can find a good recipe for those here:

(https://unpeeledjournal.com/sweet-candied-rhubarb-ribbons/)

Saint Patrick's Day Beer Tasting

If you’re planning to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day this year by knocking back a few Bud Lights with your friends, more power to you! We won’t judge. But if you’re looking for something a little more adventurous and memorable (minus all the green food coloring), may we suggest a beer tasting flight?

In case you haven’t done one before, a “flight” is a lineup of small, sample-sized pours of several different types of beers. For new beer drinkers, enjoying a tasting flight with friends is the perfect way to find out what they’ve been missing. Even if you’re a regular beer drinker who already knows what you like, a flight is a fantastic way to venture outside your routine and sample styles and flavors you wouldn’t normally try. And believe us, there’s a lot you haven’t tried!

Utah’s brewing industry has exploded in the past few years. Just stroll down your grocer’s beer aisle and you’ll get an idea of the enormous variety of innovative brews coming from our local beer-makers. From pilsners to lagers to porters to stouts, Utah brewers have something for every taste, but you’ll never find the hidden gems unless you give them a try.

Here are five tips for how to host a tasting:

1. We recommend picking out four or five different beer selections that catch your eye. Have fun with your choices and be adventurous. Pick a few you normally would never taste. Best case scenario: you stumble onto a new favorite flavor. Worst case: you take a taste, make your bad-beer face, and move on to the next.

2. Don’t buy a full 6- or 12-pack of a beer you’re not sure you’ll like. For your flight, each pour should only be around 4 ounces, so a couple of cans or bottles will be enough to give six of you a taste. You can buy in singles at the Utah DABC or at local breweries that have in-house stores. Even some local grocery stores encourage you to build your own 6-pack.

3. When it comes to the tasting, start with lighter beers first and work your way up to the more overpowering varieties. Although the choices are almost limitless, here are a few fun and delicious Utah beers we’ve enjoyed:

o    For a light option, try Salt Flats P1 Pilsner, Uinta Was Angeles, or Level Crossing Jazz Loon Lager.

o    Work in a refreshing, fruity selection like UTOG Mandarina Kolsch, RoHa Bumpy Pucker Raspberry Sour, or Wasatch Blueberry Hefeweizen.

o    Including an IPA is essential, as those hoppy favorites are super popular and there are so many great IPA styles to choose from.  Our recent favorites include Roosters High Desert Hazy, Proper Yacht Rock Juice Box, and Squatter’s 147 West Broadway Hop.

o    Finish up your session with the darkest beer for a satisfying, full-bodied ending. Consider Shades Milk Stout, Epic Son of a Baptist Coffee Stout, or Kiitos Coconut Stout.

4. If your friends are a talkative bunch, you can add to the fun by discussing the beers’ unique flavors as you go. Talking about the experience can sharpen your senses and your focus. Plus, your friends might notice something you missed, like the unusually creamy head on a pilsner, the subtle fruity notes of the IPA in your lineup, or the chocolatey finish of your stout.

5. And, of course, don’t forget the snacks!

Finally, let’s make sure you’re ready to join in the festivities with a hearty Irish cheer, “Sláinte is táinte!“ It’s pronounced “slawn-che iss toin-che” and it means “health and wealth.”

 Sláinte is táinte!