Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Cazuela Punch

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the New York launch for Don Roberto Tequilas. Now, I won't bore you with detailed tasting notes about the tequila itself, that's for other bloggers, but I'll say that they're quite good. More importantly for us at Punch in the Mouth, there was punch! A punch with a story, no less, the best kind.

My friend Junior Merino, a prolific cocktail and tequila expert, was on hand as Don Roberto's mixologist. As one of the signature cocktails, he chose to fall back on the traditional Cazuela. This stuff is as communal as it gets and Junior had a lot good stories about it. You throw a bunch of tequila, citrus, grenadine and grapefruit Jarritos in a traditional earthenware casserole-like bowl and you go to town. Or as the case may be, you go through town. See, in Jalisco and Guadalajara, driving down a dirt road through small farming towns you're likely to see Cazuela stands every few miles. You pull over and you have one of two (awesome) options. Option one: Grab a straw and for a nominal fee (say 5 cents) take a nice long sip. Or, Option two: if you're feeling like you need a bit more, they'll grab a sandwich bag, ladle some Cazuela in, and wrap the whole thing around a straw. Yeah you read that, punch in a bag. A new height has been reached!


It's been a long time since I've seen punch at a tasting, let alone a tequila one!

Pretty awesome stuff, and I'll be writing more about Cazuela punch in the future. In the meantime, I took the liberty of modifying Junior's single-serving recipe to a full punch size. Now, Junior being Junior has a flair for the exotic, so I've also added some alternatives. Hope you enjoy it!



Don Roberto Refresher

20 oz Don Roberto Tequila Reposado
10 oz Grilled Grapefruit Juice
30 oz Jarritos de Toronja (or Squirt for you gringos)
2.5 oz Hibiscus Syrup (Junior makes his own, you can substitute the more traditional grenadine)
2.5 oz Orange Liqueur (Junior used Combier)
5 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
2.5 oz Fresh Orange Juice

Garnish with slices of Lemon, Lime, Orange and Grapefruit Stir ingredients in large bowl, preferably a Cazuela (which can be found pretty cheap). Optionally you may add a pinch of salt or rim a glass in salt (the former being more traditional).

That's a gooeseberry blossom - lots of flair.

3 comments:

  1. sharing this one again. love your blog

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  2. I think that is some sort of gooseberry with its husk..That punch was my favorite and Junior's salts and rims are amazing!

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