The Perfect Margarita

I get a lot of requests for the perfect margarita recipe. My first thought is that any cocktail stems from the quality of the base ingredient. In this case, I’m referring to Partida Tequila.

In a nutshell, this 100% agave, family estate-grown “Double Gold” winning tequila is so smooth and richly flavorful that it is almost criminal to put anything in it, at all.

The Anejo (aged) Partida Tequila which I sampled, is easily compared to a fine cognac. Definitely a ‘sipper,’ its deep amber hues and fragrance alone make the mouth water. Experiencing it on the palatte is an additional pleasure.

The 5,000-acre estate in Amatitan, Jalisco was founded by Enrique and Norberto Partida, in the 1930’s. The company is now run by Sophia, the youngest of Norberto’s 11 children. Ms. Partida considers her family business a way to stay connected with her Mexican heritage while presenting the legacy of superior agave tequila to the public.

My husband, Jason, and I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, so we are no strangers to a tequila drink. On the 4th of July, we indulged our good friends, Jackie and Tony, in Jason's recipe, or what we call “The Perfect Margarita.” Try it, and see if you agree:

"The Perfect Margarita"
3 oz. Partida Anejo
2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
splash of Cointreau
1 tsp. of sugar

Dissovle the sugar into the lime juice. Combine all ingredients and shake vigorously with ice. Pour into chilled cocktail glasses, garnish with lime wheel. (Repeat.)

*Under no circumstances should you use ‘Sweet N’ Sour Mix’ with a fine tequila! You might as well pour the tequila down your kitchen sink.

On April 21, in The Liquid Muse archives, you can read a general piece I wrote about the process by which Agave tequila is made. If that doesn’t convince you of its virtue, by all means, splurge on a bottle of Partida… And, please, write in to tell me your thoughts! I’d love to hear if you Sipsters are as taken with it as I am!

B.A.R. Comes to LA, Tequila Flows

In addition to being some of the coolest cats in the biz, the B.A.R. team is also one of the most knowledgeable assemblies of spirits aficionados imaginable. So, the excitement among the 40 attendees at an all day tequila immersion at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, sponsored by Partida Tequila, was palpable. Some of us have already taken the B.A.R. course and had an idea of what to expect. The uninitiated seemed unaware of just how much we would learn over the next 8-hours.

After mingling over a continental breakfast, Steve Olsen began the journey through tequila history, Mexican tequila-growing regions’ topography and geography. He ran through types of agave plants (there are literally hundreds) and showed photos of burros laden with 6 – 8 agave “pinas” sometimes weighing 200 kilos (over 400 pounds) each. Steve ran through methods of distillation and aging, and Paul Pacult also likened tequila to wine in that its “terroire” and the altitude at which the plants grow directly affects the final flavor of the product.

We launched into the tasting, starting with the unaged or “blanco” tequilas first. Words such as “green pepper,” “cilantro” and “lime rind” were used as adjectives. As we moved through the next 7 blancos and into the 8 reposados, descriptors such as “creamy,” “white pepper,” “earthy,” “licorice,” and “rosemary” came into play. When we hit a bad tequila (the team threw in a couple so that we could pick one out of a line up) aromas such as “plastic,” “medicinal” and “methanol” were descriptors.

Once we ran through 16 blancos and reposados, out came three spicy sangritas. The one they called “traditional” was made with pomegranate juice, orange juice, lime juice and habanero sauce. The next blended Cholula sauce, lime, grapefruit, tomato and orange juices, slat and jalapeno. Finally the Green Sangrita (from Green & Red in London) was my favorite of the three, made with pineapple, mint, coriander, lime juice, cane sugar syrup and sea salt.

David Wondrich and His Highness Dale DeGroff ran through some historic tequila cocktails and how to make them. The old-school and new-school Tequila Daisies (or traditional margarita) and the original Tequila Sunrise, which in a fancy Tijuana resort made popular during prohibition touted the drink as the “sure cure for colds.” After all that, well, we had lunch.

If you haven’t already had lunch at Whist, you should know that you’re missing out. And, in this case, the 4-course, tequila cocktail pairing lunch blows the 1950’s style 3-martini lunch out of the proverbial water:

Luscious scallops were paired with the Spicy Abbey (Partida Reposado, Lillet, fresh OJ, angostura orange bitters and pepper jelly). The St. Rosemary (Partida Blanco, St. Germain, apple and lime juice and fresh rosemary) was perfect alongside zucchini blossom with bellwether ricotta and charred tomatoes. The braised leg of duck with artisan chocolate mole and corn tamale came alongside a Holy Mole (Partida Anejo, Aperol, Madeira, crème de cocoa, barrel aged bitters with a Gentleman Jack rinse with a flamed orange peel.) Dessert featured a crisp plantain with chipotle ice cream and caramel.

How do you top a lunch like that? You go back in to the conference room and taste about 16 more tequilas. Only this time anejos and extra anejos. To be anejo, the tequila is aged in wood for 1-2 years. The “extra anejo” category kicks in after 2 years and lasts until 5 years in the barrel. It seems a crime to sip-and-spit them but, lets face it, if we drank them all, we’d have died from alcohol poisoning. And, that would mean we’d never get to enjoy another tequila cocktail again. That would be a shame.

Andy Seymour, Willy Shine, Aisha Sharpe, Leo DeGroff, Jacques Bezuidenhout and Damian Windsor prepared and demo'd cocktails for the group, as well. Even Gary Shansby, the President of Partida tequila was on-hand to share enthusiasm about the tequila category, in general. It was an amazing array of old-and-new-school talent, and we were all damn lucky to have been part of a wonderful and educational day. B.A.R. may be the most prestigious spirits training in the U.S. but one thing is for sure. These guys know how to have a good time.

And, isn’t that what cocktails are all about?

LA Bartenders Unite!

So, finally, something that I’ve been hoping to see come to fruition is a reality.

I started The Liquid Muse Cocktail Club’s Cocktail of the Week, last summer. I highlighted a cocktail from a different LA restaurant in each mailing. (Its currently called The Liquid Muse Mixology Museletter because I just can't do it once a week. Its more-or-less monthly. Sign up for it here.) I was hoping that by highlighting the few quality cocktails I could scrounge up in this town that Angelenos would take note, then seek out and demand better drinks.

Then something wonderful happened. I met some fantastic LA-based bartenders at Tales of the Cocktail, last year, who felt the same way I did. Why are cities like San Fran and NYC (not to mention Seattle, Chicago, Boston and DC) respected for their fine drinks – while LA lags behind as land of the “vodka redbull” or even less appetizing, “Skinny Bitch (rum and diet coke)?” Especially when there are some talented and creative bartenders out here, with a passion for “the craft of the cocktail.” (to reference the grand Dale DeGroff)

Marcos Tello recently launched The Sporting Life (with a little help from his friend and business partner Damian Windsor ... who apparently loves Partida, judging by this photo...). It’s a Los Angeles-based bartender club, of sorts. And, cocktail bloggers are included. (We are all cocktail geeks together, after all…)

The first meeting comprised about 10 people and Joe Keeper (of Bar Keeper fame) lent the cozy back patio behind his store. Marcos sprung for the booze himself, and greeted everyone with sparkling cocktails.

The second meeting was this past weekend at Mozza – a great score considering it’s a tough place to get a reservation to PAY to drink there. This time, the fellas brought on a liquor sponsor. (Hello… if anyone can actually get a liquor sponsor it’s those of us who work with, sell and create new cocktails with their products!)

And – it was a good one! I’ve been a fan of Partida Tequila since I first blogged about it back in the summer of 2006. One of my favorites – and owned by a woman. How much more cool does it get?

The boys whipped up some awesome drinks on Sunday. One with Campari. One with cucumber foam. And, another sort of Tequila Old fashioned. It was the perfect way to kick off a Sunday afternoon, to be sure.

This time the crowd was about double what it was last time, and we had a surprise guest. Jacques Bezuidenhout who reps Partida came down from San Fran with his girlfriend, for the meeting. (Who says No-Cal and So-Cal don’t get along?)

Also in attendance were four cocktail bloggers – including me. Chuck Taggart from Gumbo Pages, Ted Haigh from Dr. Cocktail and Marleigh Riggins from Sloshed were all in one corner together. (Elitist snobs.) Just kidding. I was joyful to be in the real live company of other people who sit in front of a computer blathering on about cocktails for little to no pay. Just for the pure love of it. (Crazy people stick together, ya know!) And, Ted gave a presentation on bitters.

The bartenders came from all sorts of respected hot spots around town: Seven Grand, Doheny, Comme Ca, Bar Marmont, Villa, El Carmen, Fatfish – and more I’m surely forgetting right now (sorry guys).

And, of course, our host Chris Ojeda, the barman at Mozza, gave us a fascinating rundown of the incredible collection of Amaro behind Mozza’s bar. It’s got to be the biggest collection of Amaro in LA. Most bottles have never been opened. The bar menu features several drinks made with Amaro, which is ridiculously cool. Try the Montenegro Fizz, Meletti Smash or The Bitter End to see what I’m talking about…

In the coming weeks and months you will be seeing these talented folks featured here on The Liquid Muse Blog and in The Bartender Diaries. After all, birds of a feather drink together! I raise a glass to Marcos for getting this underway. And, here’s to The Sporting Life!

The Historic Los Angeles Cocktail Pilgrimage

This invite-only cocktail tour took place at the end of August, and I am terribly remiss in not yet telling you about one of the best days I’ve spent in Los Angeles, sooner. Not only did our busload of happy tipplers get to experience our fair city with fresh eyes but every stop we hit had cocktailian significance.

David Wondrich, respected cocktail geek, I mean, historian, created the tour, and acted as head storyteller and imparter of liquid wisdom & lore. I know I was not the only one who reveled in this unique experience, and hung on his every word… even as cocktail by cocktail, those words became the teeniest bit foggy in backward recollection. (We even took home signed copies of his book “Imbibe” for our libraries!)

Plymouth gin funded the daylong journey, fed us and lubed our senses with historic cocktails. Plus, they sent Simon Ford their charming Brand Ambassador to act as host. (If you’ve met Simon, you know he gave us a hellova good time.) Even Jacques Bezuidinhout came down to L.A. to mix up Partida drinks along the way with fellow Brand Ambassador Damian Windsor. (sidenote: After reigning supreme on the West Coast mixology scene for so long, the impressive strides in So-Cal bartending has caught San Francisco's attention…Yee-hah! A united California.)

We assembled at Cat & Fiddle (6530 W Sunset Blvd, Hwd) for a lunch of shepherd pie and Moscow Mules, a vodka and ginger beer drink created in Hollywood in the early 20th Century, traditionally served in a copper cup. Marcos Tello helped assemble our motley crew from members of his bartender association called The Sporting Life.

Bellies full, and ready to soak up a full day of drinking, 20+ high-end barkeeps from around the city, LA-based cocktail bloggers: Chuck Taggart form GumboPages, Marleigh from Sloshed and yours truly, as well as the venerable Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh and Joe of Barkeeper fame piled into a full sized bus to the original site of Don the Beachcomber’s first bar (1727 N. McCadden, Hwd).

Sadly, the home of tiki favorites is now – sigh – a parking lot. However, we stood on the sidewalk and raised our Zombies to the chain link fence, toasting a dead man who helped put the pink umbrellas and rum in tropical fruit juice.

Our next stop was in front of a construction site on Wilshire Boulevard, once home to the legendary Coconut Grove (3400 Wilshire Boulevard) where the Rat Pack and other Hollywood greats once swizzled and sipped their way into the gossip pages. The Brown Derby’s iconic sign now sits atop a strip mall across the street.

Next, our tour went “high-brow” and we sipped drinks inside the Polo Lounge at the “Pink Palace” (aka: Beverly Hills Hotel 9641 Sunset Blvd, BH) It shouldn’t surprise you that a classy group like ours finished our visit with our own cocktails on their front lawn before re-boarding the bus.

We careened down into town, catching sideways glances from snooty residents when our bus pulled into the parking lot of a fancy food store. Formerly the site of the legendary Chasen’s restaurant (where I was lucky enough to attend the 1995 Pulp Fiction Oscar party when I worked at Miramax Films) it pained me to see expensive produce where movie stars once mingled.

A few blocks away, we stopped at 140 Rodeo Drive and "ooh’d" while cocktailing on the sidewalk across from where Mike Romanoff once served fancy drinks to Los Angeles elite. Cocktail history buffs may also remember Tail O’ the Cock (477 South La Cienega) as the place where the “tequila daisy” or margarita gained popularity back in the 1930’s. Now a rental car parking lot across from Norm’s, we didn’t hold back enjoying daisies of our own.

We drove past several more historic sites, a blur by now, truth be told, and ended with dinner at West Hollywood’s Formosa Café (7156 Santa Monica Blvd) frequented by movie stars since 1939.

This experience was an incredibly generous gesture on the part of Plymouth gin, and a bonding experience like no other for our L.A. crew. Many thanks to all involved!

Ask The liquid Muse

I love getting your questions. Sometimes it takes me a few days to respond to an email but I usually get to it. You Sipsters are the reason I write this blog! I want to know what you want to know.

Sipster Vijay, in San Francisco, has a very timely question. I’ve been so consumed with the Kentucky Derby that I was almost letting Cinco de Mayo slip by!

Hey Natalie,

Just started reading your blog and I love it! Out here in SF specialty cocktails are really becoming the hot thing (I just had one last week with muddled CHERRY TOMATOES!). Anyway, I'm beginning to experiment on my own at home and I thought this weekend would be a perfect opportunity. I'm having some friends over for a Cinco de Mayo party and I was wondering if you had any concoctions you might be able to share - something fun, unique, and relatively easy to make in slightly larger portions. I have my fav margarita recipe down so any variations are much appreciated.

Thanks! Vijay


Livin La Vita Rita
1 oz. Jose Cuervo Especial
1/2 oz. Smirnoff Vodka
1/2 light rum
2 oz. Pineapple Juice
1 oz. Orange Juice
1/2 oz. Cream of Coconut
Crushed ice

Mix all ingredients together in shaker. Pour over crushed ice.

Sunset Sangria
2 cups Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita
2 cups dry Red Wine
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 cup seedless grapes, sliced
1 large pitcher

Place all ingredients into the pitcher, mix and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Garnish with orange slices and serve on the rocks.

Cactus Berry Cocktail
1 oz 1800® Reposado
3 oz Folonari Shiraz
1 oz Cointreau
2 oz Sour Mix
1 oz Lemon-Lime soda
Splash Lime Juice

Salt the rim of a tall glass. Shake all ingredients except for Lemon-Lime soda, with ice. Pour, then top with Lemon-Lime soda. Garnish with a slice of lime.
*Recipe courtesy of Frederick Wildman & Sons

1800 Fruit Cup
1 1/4 oz 1800 Reposado
3/4 oz Cointreau
3 oz sweet & sour mix
4-6 mint leaves
1 strawberry sliced
3-4 raspberries
3-4 blueberries
Lemon-Lime soda

Shake all ingredients except for Lemon-Lime soda, with ice. Shake vigorously and pour into a tall glass (pilsner or pint glass). Top with soda. Garnish with mint spring.

For those of you who don’t have your favorite margarita recipe down yet, try this one:

The Ultimate Margarita
1 oz. GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur®
1 oz. gold tequila, such as El Charro
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
Salt
A lime

Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with a fresh cut wedge of lime, then spin the glass in salt. Shake GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur®, tequila and fresh lime juice vigorously, with ice. Strain into glass and garnish with a slice of lime.

Before I end this Cinco de Mayo post, I have to give a shout out to one of my very favorite tequilas, Partida. It is so yummy, I almost hate to pollute it with anything other than a tiny squeeze of lime. However, it does make a killer margarita!

Man, all this has put me in the mood for a delicious South of the Border cocktail… How long til Happy Hour???

Spice Up Your Chocolate Craving...

This recipe sounds delicious, and I dare say that I just might make it this weekend (dieting is prohibited on weekends, right?)

ChocAmolé
(courtesy of Tad Carducci of Tippling Bros)

1 1/2 oz Partida Reposado tequila
1 oz Chocolate molé mixture (Recipe below)
1/2 oz agave nectar
1 dash Regan's Orange bitters (optional)

In a mixing glass full of ice, add all ingredients. Shake, as if being chased by seven demons, for ten seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish at will.

Chocolate Molé (approx. sixteen servings)
2 oz high quality semisweet chocolate
5 tablespoons peanut butter
2 cups water
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp dried ground guajillo chile, or similar

Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and add peanut butter and milk. Whisk until smooth. Add spices and let simmer until mixture thickens to the consistency of a light batter. While hot, pass through a fine strainer, using the back of a ladle to push mixture through. Immediately add chocolate and stir to melt. Let “molé” cool to room temperature before using.

South of the Border in SoHo

Papatzul Serves Up Regional Mexican Specialties With A Side of Hospitality

Back in 1990, when I was a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Manhattan had a different vibe. For one, I carried a “stun gun” a Puerto Rican acquaintance secured for me. (No questions asked, if you catch my drift...) I lugged that thing around in my pocket – cuz – truth be told, the city felt a bit menacing back then to a relatively wholesome kid from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Needless to say, I was also on a budget. During that summer, I ate hot dogs from the street vendors, tried my first knish from a Jewish deli, and discovered that Queens was not the regal neighborhood I had envisioned. I also made friends with a local who took me to eat the worst “Mexican” food I’d had in my life. Soggy, saucy and insipidly NOT Mexican, I cringed to think that this was what the Big Apple had to offer when I longed for what I considered “comfort food.”

Fast forward 18 years… and not only is Manhattan transformed into a wonderland of safe streets packed with shiny, happy people and (mostly) friendly taxi drivers but there are actually some decent Mexican digs.

When I first saw Papatzul around the corner from the swanky SoHo Grand, where I recently spent a couple of weeks, I had my doubts. Mexican… in New York? Did I really want to take a risk when there are so many places I’d be guaranteed a good meal?

Well, it was HOT outside. And, nothing sounded quite as refreshing as a margarita. So, up the steps and into the bar I bellied.

The first thing I noted was the vast array of tequilas. I mean, this wasn’t one of those “we have 300 tequilas!” type of places. Nor do I need a place to offer that many. (I can only make it through about 3 drinks in a sitting, myself.) Still, it had a decent array of the tequilas I enjoy: Partida, Herradura, Milagro and the like. I also happened to have a bottle of certified organic 4 Copas in my bag (I was teaching The Liquid Muse Sustainable Sips earlier that night) and I gave the bartenders a taste. (I’m always happy to introduce people to a “greener” way of drinking, after all…).

The atmosphere at Papatzul is great because the staff is so friendly. Ashley, the bartendress, was a doll – and makes mean tamarind as well as hibiscus margaritas (pictured here). She also recommended that I try a specialty of the house …. Which are scrambled quail egg enchiladas in a nutty sort of sauce. It is a dish typical of a region near Mexico City, where the owner Thierry grew up.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – Thierry? Is this some froggy transplant passing himself off as “Latino?” No, Thierry Amezcua is from Mexico, though his mother is from France. My dad is from France, so we chattered away in French for a while, too. (Another surprise in this tiny corner of Manhattan.)

Some guy, sitting with two models at the bar, kept asking when Thierry was getting a DJ for Sunday afternoons. It seemed as if Thierry has put a lot of thought into this, and although it could be a good idea (Felix, kitty-corner from Papatzul serves French bistro fare while blasting Brazilian samba on the weekends as patrons spill onto the street, Caipirinhas in hand), I couldn’t help but think about Anthony Bourdain’s description of NYC restaurant owners desperately grabbing at any gimmick to lure the customers to their corner of the sidewalk. I hoped that wasn’t the case with Thierry – but, as we all know, the restaurant business is “perro eat perro.”

I went to many fancy and wonderful places during my two weeks in New York but I can assure you that Papatzul is the ONLY place where the owner of the joint sat down at the bar next to me, pulled up a chair and talked shop in between cooking customers’ orders. (Thierry is also the Executive Chef.) If I had the means to live at the SoHo Grand, or in SoHo for that matter, Papatzul would be my neighborhood hangout. The people are nice. The food is good. The margaritas are delicious. And, yeah, the neighborhood ain’t too shabby. Which is important because that stun-gun would never get through security at the airport these days…

Preggatinis Gets Props on TalkDrinks.com

Many thank you's to the awesome folks behind TalkDrinks.com for this wonderful mention of "Preggatinis: Mixology for the Mom-To-Be."

And, did I mention that Partida tequila is one of my favorite tequila brands going waaay back to 2005? (Scroll through these posts for proof!) Keep it mind when you take a Preggatini(TM) and use the "De-Virginize for Dad" directions!

Who’s Got Spirit?

The Doheny Leads Los Angeles Through Three Cheers for World Cocktail Week

Down in LA, we don’t get a lot of cocktailian recognition. And, frankly, a lot of that is our own damn fault! While New Orleans has Tales of the Cocktail and San Francisco created the first “cocktail week” in the country, we’ve sat on our butts while Britney, Lindsay and Paris get all the drinking-related publicity.

Well, that’s all changing…

Cheer One: The Doheny was the only establishment to celebrate not once but THRICE. Cocktail week kicked off on May 8 in LA at Cedd Moses’ exclusive hideaway with a specially-created cocktail menu for the first (invite-only) event for cocktail aficionados. Two of my favorite barmen in the world, Vincenzo Marianella and Eric Alperin, were shaking, stirring and sweating (oh-so-discretely) behind the bar for suited and dolled-up patrons of the members-only club on opening day of World Cocktail Week.

The menu featured drinks from: Sagatiba cachaca, Plymouth gin, Marker’s Mark whiskey and Barsol Pisco. The cocktails were divided between classic and Vincenzo’s new creations. Brand Ambassadors Simon Ford (Plymouth) and Jamie Terrell (Sagatiba) flew in for the special event and to buy us all gin and cachaca drinks – woo hoo!

Cheer Two! On Saturday, May 10, Cedd donned a dazzling pin-striped suit and celebrated his birthday at Doheny and invited another round of pals down to sample his swanky spot and sip the special sauce. (In addition to giving Cedd a big birthday hug, I was also happy to get another of Vincenzo’s original cocktails called the Rio, which was still on my mind from Thursday…)

Cheer Three!!! On Monday, May12, Damian Windsor (Tequila Ambassador for Partida, pictured center, right) threw a bash for the real stars of this week-long celebration: LA bartenders! Damian is Head Barman at Seven Grand, which is also owned by Moses, and just a few blocks away from The Doheny.

Beautiful drink slingers from all over the metropolis headed downtown to raise a glass with Damian during a toast coordinated between bars in New York, San Francisco and London. Although, as Windsor puts it, “by the time the toast rolled around the person on the other end of the phone on the east coast was smashed.” (Would one really expect any different?)

Bravo to The Doheny for leading the way for the LA-contingency of World Cocktail Week enthusiasts, proving the commercial right: membership does indeed have its privileges.