HOW I MAKE THAT DRINK (AND WHY IT’S SO GOOD)

A special and glorious cocktail from Mexico…

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Gabriel has been a superior bartender for 16 years, in different spots in Mexico City, most recently the Hotel Live Aqua México City. Presently he is managing Bar Escuela, a cocktail school in México City that teaches the new facets of cocktail making in México.  He’s also the President of the Asociación Barmen de México — the Mexican Bartenders Guild, the only one in México incorporated into the IBA (International Bartenders Association) 

 

There’s more to Mexican cocktails than the Margarita! (You knew that, and if you didn’t, pretend you did.) Here’s Gabriel’s favorite, with a very personal connection.

 

 

 

 

The drink

 

“Oaxaca my love”

 

This is a cocktail of my authorship, one of the first I invented in my career as a bartender. It is inspired as, first, partly in the flavors that we have in Mexico, the Mezcal mainly, but also the Chili, the hibiscus flower, the pineapple and strawberry, and, not least, in a special person for me, the woman who has accompanied me in this journey called life.

 

 

Ingredients 

 

30 ml Mezcal Espadin 

15 ml Ancho Reyes Liquor

10 ml Aperol

1 Strawberry

60 ml Pineapple juice

15 ml Hibiscus Syrup

 

Rim of Tajin (a chili powder). Serve in an Old Fashioned short glass, with an Hibiscus flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparation 

 

In a shaker crush the strawberry and then add the liquid ingredients, add ice and shake. We put tajin on the edge of the glass and add ice to serve our cocktail. Decorate with an Hibiscus flower.

 

For the Hibiscus syrup we are going to use: 500 ml of water and 500 g of sugar, 150 g of hibiscus flower.

 

In a saucepan mix water and sugar to the point of boiling. Then we add the hibiscus flower and let it herb for 2 minutes. Turn off and let it release all the flavor. At the end we just strain the syrup into a container and it’s ready to use!

 

In this cocktail we are going to find many of the flavors of México, as I had mentioned, the inspiration comes from mixing a little of my México, the Mezcal, the ancho chili, the pineapple, the hibiscus flower and the strawberries. They are flavors that we will always find in the home of Mexican families. 

 

This makes it different and helps a foreign palate understand a little more about my country.