“You’re the prowler of the night to the beds of virgins, Oh God what powers you have to gain kindnesses from girls.” (Old Gaelic toast to whisky)

If any spirit sums up what spirits are about, it’s whisky. It adapts to where it’s made, who’s drinking it and why. It can be as sophisticated as high tea and as rough as three-day stubble. Sipped or slugged, it can inspire art or arson.

In a purely anthropological sense, whisky goes hand in hand with bread-eating cultures and climates. The process goes something like this: You grow grain, which you make into bread. You mill your grain and save a bit to sow for next year’s crop, but in the good seasons what do you do with the extra? Give it to the pigs? No way. You make whisky.

Irish Whiskey
What came first, the Irish predilection for drink or the drink itself? It’s a real chicken and egg scenario. Whatever the answer, the Irish did make whiskey first. Distilling had already been around in Ireland for a couple of hundred years when its first historical mention occurs. Apparently in 1276 Sir Robert Savage fortified his troops with “a mighty draught of uisce beatha (whiskey).” Irish whiskey began with the rural poor in Ireland, who probably preferred to drink than eat. These days there’s much more to the difference between Irish whiskey and Scottish whisky than the letter ‘e’.

It all comes down to quirks in production that are utterly Irish and devoid of logic. Although there’s a fair bit of peat in Ireland it was rarely used to dry the malted barley. Coal was preferred. This is the defining difference. That smokiness so apparent in Scottish whisky is not there. Without the smoke screen to mask the flavors, there’s a delicate perfume and a less masculine taste. The Irish also use raw barley as well as malted barley. This evolved not from any desire to make a better tasting whiskey but because there was a tax on malt.

Oats were used occasionally for the same reason. Irish whiskey is distilled three times (as opposed to the normal two) in larger than normal pot stills. The idiosyncrasies of pot stills and the extra distillation produce a uniquely delicate drink. Whiskey made this way is known as “pot still whiskey” and like Scotch is often blended with neutral-tasting grain whiskey.

Jameson, based in Dublin, is a blend of pot still and grain whiskey and sums up what Irish whiskey is all about. The classic Tullamore Dew got its name because its founder was Daniel E. Williams, initials D.E.W. It’s renowned for its lightness. Bushmills is the oldest surviving distillery in the world and is a little more malty than most Irish whiskeys.

Scottish Whisky
Whatever the Irish say, Scotland is the spiritual home of whisky. No other drink is so associated with one country. But until about 1840 ‘Scotch’ as we know it didn’t exist. In the early 19th century malt whisky production was booming. Licensed distilleries had jumped from 125 to 329. At the same time the continuous still was being developed. Invented by Aeneas Coffey (an Irishman!) and patented in 1830, it allowed for the bulk distillation of grain spirit. The blending of malt whisky and cheaper grain whisky from the Coffey stills was a logical step.

Scotch was born.

For the unadventurous it had the same appeal as McDonalds, processed cheese, fish fingers and instant coffee. Its success was guaranteed. Many malt distilleries shut down or operated only to produce blending components for Scotch. Until Glenfiddich decided to stick a toe in the export market in the 1960s, you couldn’t buy a single malt whisky outside Scotland. Thankfully malt whisky has made a comeback. If you’re into single malt you’ll want to taste everything, but here are a few suggestions: Talisker, Highland Park, Bowmore and Lagavulin.

American Whiskey
Whether they liked it or not, whiskey followed the Puritans to America. The Scottish and Irish emigrated too and brought with them a desire to drink and the means to make good that desire.

The defining thing about American whiskey is that it isn’t made from barley. Corn was indigenous to the U.S. and it was corn and rye that were used. No one can agree on when and by whom the first drinkable corn whiskey was distilled. Some say it was the Baptist preacher Elija Craig in 1789, others John Ritchie in 1777, and some Evan Williams in 1783. No matter, Kentucky soon became the state most famous for whiskey and racehorses.

The story here goes something like this. Thomas Jefferson, governor of Virginia at the time, offered 60 acres to any settler who built a permanent structure and grew corn. Sixty acres produces a lot of corn and the excess was turned into whiskey which was then shipped down the Mississippi to New Orleans and traded for Arab horses, which were then ridden up the Natchez trace back to Kentucky. Whiskey and racehorses often go together but rarely is the relationship so symbiotic.

To be called a bourbon, a whiskey need not be from Bourbon County but it must be at least 51 percent sour corn mash (most are about 70Ð90 percent, the balance being barley and rye) and aged for at least two years in charred, white oak barrels. Charring of the barrels is a crucial part of the process. Said to have been invented by the aforementioned Reverend Craig, the charring opens up the wood and brings out those vanilla and caramel flavors crucial to the bourbon style. Wild Turkey is a classic big bourbon available in a range of alcoholic strengths, while Woodford Reserve is a little more sophisticated and a good sipper.

Tennessee Whiskey is a corn whiskey but it differs from bourbon. It’s smoother and lighter, less sweet and heavy. The reason is charcoal filtering. Newly distilled clear spirit is dripped through a vat filled with finely ground charcoal. When people ask for Tennessee Whiskey they don’t, they ask for Jack Daniel’s.

As ever, language says more about the differences in whiskies than any amount of technical detail. In Ireland a person asks for a whiskey by brand name: “a Paddy” or “a Dunphy” or in rare cases generically as “a ball of malt.” In Scotland they’ll ask for a single malt by name as a dram, nip, tot or the affectionate “wee goldie.” Americans ask for a belt, blast or a slug. Each is a different drink drunk differently. They just happen to be all made in stills, all called whisk(e)y and all have that power to gain kindnesses from girls.

WHISKY

TERMS

* Single Malt Whisky - A term coined in the 1970s during the malt whisky revival, used to define the whisky of one distillery made with 100 percent malted barley.

* Scotch - A blended whisky made in Scotland.

* Irish Whiskey - Whiskey made in Ireland, normally a blend of pot still whiskey with malted barley and grain whiskey.

* Bourbon - An American whiskey with 51 percent or more corn mash aged for two years in charred oak barrels.

* Tennessee Whiskey - a whiskey with no specific grain criteria but normally made with corn mash and charcoal filtering. ]]> 2008-07-02T15:35:00-08:00 http://www.winexmagazine.com/index.php/wine/vieweat/gaggia-baby-twin-espresso-machine/ Face it: when the term "baby" is attached to a well-known product -- unless that product is Ron Jeremy -- you expect miniaturization and, well, the short-bus version of the original. Products

Face it: when the term "baby" is attached to a well-known product -- unless that product is Ron Jeremy -- you expect miniaturization and, well, the short-bus version of the original. So when we scored the new Gaggia Baby Twin Espresso machine for abuse, er, review, we expected (yaaaawn) a smaller, plasticized version of their reg machine.

Our humble apologies and a deep Japanese-style bow.

Ain't nothing baby about this fab machine except its compact, low-riding size. It grips the counter like -- well, you might not have seen that Jeremy movie. The solid filter holder arm, which lets you make two cups at a time, twists and locks into place with the confidence of their professional machine (I know because I was a barista in a past life). The "turbo frother steam nozzle" (a name possibly larger than the machine) froths with the best of them, and the brewing selection panel allows you to brew at will (one strong, two weak, manual pour, etc.). Genius!

Only drawback (unless I misread the instructions -- which, knowing me, isn't out of the question) is that you can't brew two strong espressos at once. But you can adjust the amount of flow for each setting, so if you're not jonesing for a Big Gulp-sized espresso, you can manufacture two fairly macho average-size drinks. (Then you can do the walk of shame. Uh, same movie.)

Lots of other pro touches I won't bore you with, but this machine is a killer downsized version of Gaggia's commercial series.

XXX – Exceptional

- JC ]]> 2008-06-05T20:01:01-08:00 http://www.winexmagazine.com/index.php/wine/vieweat/teaposy/ Teaposy lived up to all expectations and PR boasts. Products

I am anything but a teetotaler. Ask any of my friends if they’ve ever seen me without alcohol in my hand (after 6pm... okay, when i'm awake) and they’ll laugh you silly. Mind you, I am a responsible drinker. I don’t drink and drive (mainly ‘cause I don’t have a car) and I don’t get shit-faced to the point I can’t remember my name (that’s what friends are for, right?).

I do, however, enjoy a great mug o’ coffee or cup o’ tea. That’s why when the press release from Teaposy crossed my desk… okay, it’s really more like an old door on sawhorses, I had to get a sample. Because very few products end up looking or performing as well as the press release boasts.

The Garden Gift set (pictured above) lived up to all expectations and PR boasts. The cute little Socrates cups (every time I hear/read Socrates I remember Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and pronounce it “so-crates”) are just that, and the tea pots are not only elegant but thoughtfully functional. Granted, the little cups hold about as much tea as I consume in one sip (I solved that prob by drinking directly from the pot), but for a special dinner or meal (or prelude to sex) this is the perfect tea set to bring out.

Wait, there’s more. If you really wanna WOW your guest(s), drop a Teaposy “Blooming Tea” into your pot and watch a beautiful blossom unfold before your eyes. There are eight blooming teas to choose from, each containing silver needle white tea and herbal flowers, stitched together with natural cotton thread. And each produces a wonderfully unique experience and taste.

For more info visit www.teaposy.com.

XXX – Highest Rating

- JC ]]> 2008-04-02T18:49:00-08:00 http://www.winexmagazine.com/index.php/wine/vieweat/nudist-camp/ It was like a freaky safari. There we were, winemaker Neil Collins and me, stalking chickens running loose on the property. No, not for dinner. Collins wanted to show me the benefits of using the feathery flock in the vineyard. Wine

images by Christopher Sawyer

It was like a freaky safari. There we were, winemaker Neil Collins and me, stalking chickens running loose on the property. No, not for dinner. Collins wanted to show me the benefits of using the feathery flock in the vineyard. I expected them to scatter. But as we got closer they paid no attention to us. They were too busy chomping away at the green stuff planted between the vineyard rows: gourmet grasses, wild flowers and their favorite treat - the spiky Yellow Star Thistle. Collins explained the idea behind using chickens is based on the concept of biodiversity. The chickens eat the natural material, process it, then put it back as a rich type of, well, specialized manure. Eventually the manure and cover crops are softly tilled into the ground and serve as a natural soil fertilizer. In springtime, packed with powerful nutrients, the mixture acts like a sort of alarm clock, waking the vines and energizing them from their dormant winter snooze.

Believe it or not, the chickens are an upgrade to how vineyard farming has been done for the past 50 years. Since World War II, most growers have gone the easy route - purchasing synthetic chemical fertilizers packaged in commercialized plastic bags. But things are changing now as more natural, eco-friendly farming techniques have come back in style. "For quality wine, grapes should be an expression of the soil and the vineyards where they’re grown," Collins says. "Using synthetic chemicals means there’s something missing from the wine as far as authenticity or natural personality is concerned." Certified as organic in January 2003, Tablas Creek Vineyards is a member of a new wave of premium U.S. wine producers recognizing the benefits of using old-fashioned farming methods. The concept is simple: work closely with nature instead of against it.

What Does Organic Mean? By definition, organic agriculture refers to fruit, vegetable and other food products cultivated without the use of toxic pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. Like a touch of TLC from Mother Nature, the main goal is to build healthy soil and healthy plants, and to protect the surrounding environment and workers in the most natural way possible. Over the past decade, more than 15,000 vineyard acres in the U.S. have been farmed organically, an amazing increase from only 200 acres in 1989. California is a hotspot for this movement. There are nearly 7,000 acres of certified vineyards planted by 113 producers in the state. Many others do it without applying for certification. "No compromise!" is the shared bravado.

For a vineyard to become certified, the land must be farmed for three years without the use of chemicals. The vineyard is inspected twice within that period by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), the state’s regulatory certification organization. Monitoring is yearly after certification. Gettin’ Down With Nature Okay, let’s set things straight. The general problem with synthetic chemicals is that they eat the natural nutrients and minerals in the soil. Conversely, the organic approach adds natural resiliency to the soil, thus strengthening the plants. To make this happen, organic soils are nourished with a variety of natural ingredients, like cover crops, manure and powerful compost made with recycled materials such as pomace (grape skins), straw and other landscape debris. The idea is to have as much commotion - otherwise known as energy from microorganisms - moving around in the soil as possible. Near the vineyards, flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruit trees are planted to create additional activity that’ll benefit the native flora and fauna. In other words, it’s all about raw material, baby! John Williams, winemaker at Frog’s Leap Wine Cellars in Napa Valley, is a true believer in the power of organic farming. All vineyards comprising the Frog Farm property have been certified organic since 1999. Williams offers this analogy, which addresses use of conventional chemicals as a "quick fix" in the old days: "It’s like if your kids are on a soda and candy bar diet: response is impressive, sustainability is not. Our goal is to make sure that our soil has a balanced diet at all times. Financially and as far as quality is concerned, it’s a very viable situation." While sustainable farming practices have quickly caught on with many grape growers, controlling pesky weeds remains a main obstacle that keeps many from taking the organic plunge. As a result, most grape growers still rely on annihilating the green material with toxic products. Organic producers, however, have found ways of getting around this. Techniques include mulching vineyard rows to suppress weeds; using the pyrotechnical alternative ("fire, fire!" as Beavis once said) to burn them with propane torches; or employing small tractors with soft rubber bumpers to cut the weeds without harming the vines. Another difficult matter has been the ongoing battle with insects that can cause serious vine damage. However, instead of using harmful conventional sprays, organic converts focus on creating unique insectaries that feature a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees. The idea is to attract beneficial insects that’ll eat the problematic vine pests.

Mendocino and Beyond The birthplace of this organic wine movement was California’s Mendocino County. Today, more than 3,000 acres of grapes grown in the county are farmed organically. Charlie Barra, whose family owns the Barra and Girasole brands of organic wine, has been working with grapes in Redwood Valley since he was just nine years old. "Most of us were farming organically for as long as I can remember," said Barra, 78. "We couldn’t afford chemicals back then, and we still don’t need them today. There just wasn’t a name to call this practice until the last 25 years." While Redwood Valley’s Frey Vineyards was one of the first to have certified vineyards in the U.S., it was the more recognizable brand - Fetzer Vineyards - that ultimately became the prototype for sustainable agriculture in the mid-1980s. In 1989, Fetzer began its eco-friendly commitment by converting 1,600 vineyard acres to organic.

Natural Flavors Until recently, the concept of organic wines left a sour impression on critics and consumers. Most of this was due to bad winemaking or bottling techniques. But thanks to new, innovative farming methods, including reducing the amount of water used, minimizing crop load and hand harvesting, as well as new technology used in the winemaking process, the overall quality of wines - both organic and conventional - have improved significantly in the past decade. As a result, the lingering hippy cliche or "stigma" commonly associated with organic wines has started to fade, being replaced instead with images of more racy, premium style wine. Moon Mountain Vineyards, located on the rugged Mayacamas mountain range overlooking Sonoma Valley, began its conversion to organic farming techniques in 1998. Winemaker Randall Watkins has been impressed with how much more concentrated the fruit flavors have become since chemicals are no longer used. "The vineyard now speaks for itself," Watkins says.

Granted, there are many producers like Moon Mountain that grow grapes organically but are very discreet about it, meaning they don’t say much about it on their labels. Those that do feature it fall into two general categories: "Organic Wine," for wines that contain no added sulfites; or "Made with Organic Grapes," for wines that contain a small percentage of sulfites.* Signs of such producers’ success are evident in the marketplace. For example, Whole Foods, Cost Plus and specialty wine shops now feature organic wine sections on their shelves that cater to a growing number of environmentally conscious consumers. Want to know more? Read Nudist Camp Part II in the next issue. * Sulfites are natural by-products of fermentation. It’s impossible to have no sulfites in wine. However, winemakers can choose not to add sulfur (which eventually turns into sulfites) to their wines during the winemaking process, thus minimizing the amount of sulfites in the finished product.

Eco-Friendly Ladybugs Lolonis Winery, located in Mendocino’s Redwood Valley, farms 250 acres of organic vineyards, including a large number of old, gnarly vine plantings of zinfandel, petite sirah and carignane. The saving graces on the property have been ladybugs. Each year, Lolonis purchases millions of these little critters and releases them in the vineyards to combat harmful pests. "We’re looking for consistent quality and not variability," says Philip Lolonis, a third-generation member of the Greek family that planted the original vines in the 1950s. "We’ve harnessed the power of the ladybug to help us get there. They’re not only cute, but very effective!"

]]> 2007-01-08T21:45:00-08:00 http://www.winexmagazine.com/index.php/wine/vieweat/blockades-bullets-and-bugs/ Tequila lures you in by seducing your mind, secure in the knowledge that your body - and taste buds - will have no choice but to follow. Rage

Tequila. Whether it conjures images of swarthy, ammo-strapped banditos sidled up to the bar in a captive Mexican border town or fantasies of idyllic hours in hammocks on tropical vacations, the word tequila is perhaps the most evocative in the drinker's lexicon.

Tequila's siren song is mysterious and sexy, with a hypnotic off-key recklessness. She lures you in by seducing your mind, secure in the knowledge that your body - and taste buds - will have no choice but to follow.

While this exotic spirit has tempted drinkers around the world for centuries, few of us who make margaritas a staple of summertime understand or appreciate the journey tequila has taken from Mexico's highlands to the local supermarket shelf. It's not all blender drinks and body shots. Tequila has a long and increasingly turbulent history - one that's almost as complex as the spirit itself.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico...

The tale of tequila is at least as long as the history of Europeans in North America. The spirit's precursor, mezcal wine, was produced shortly after the Spaniards arrived in the New World in 1521. Unaccustomed to drinking plain water (which, in their European homeland was rife with bacteria and bugs, and often a one-way ticket to the plague pit), the Conquistadors were eager to create a new alcoholic beverage. They found the makings at hand in pulque, a nutrient-packed brew derived from the fermented sap of agave plants, which had been a staple of the native diet millennia before the arrival of these thirsty men. The Conquistadors set to work distilling pulque into a drink considerably more potent, and in less than a century they were cultivating local agave and turning pulque into mezcal wine for exportation back to the Old World. Fortunately for generations of drinkers that followed, the Conquistadors never did know how to leave an indigenous people's traditions well enough alone; mezcal wine eventually evolved into the treat we now call tequila.

Though the origin of the word itself remains a mystery, it's believed that tequila was named for the small town of Tequila in the Jalisco state of Mexico. The "Father of Tequila," Don Pedro Sanches de Tagle, Marquis of Altamira, saw the potential for this potent liquor and established the first tequila factory in his hacienda in 1600. Over the next hundred years, tequila was used for everything from generating taxes for public works to curing New World illnesses. It became so popular, in fact, that Spain's king began to worry about the competition tequila was causing, and in 1785 banned production of all spirits in Mexico in order to promote the importation of Spanish wines and spirits. Unwilling to give up their livelihood to a monarch an ocean away, makers of mezcal wines simply continued their trade in secret - at times literally baking agave underground - until the ban was lifted when King Ferdinand IV took the throne the following decade.

The tequila manufacturer who remains perhaps the most famous today, Jose Antonio Cuervo, was the first licensed manufacturer in Mexico in 1758. His family's Casa Cuervo proved very profitable, by the mid-19th century boasting fields of over three million agave plants. Cuervo was the first distiller to put tequila in bottles instead of barrels, selling the first in 1906. Though other tequila distillers rose to compete with Cuervo and continue to join the market today (perhaps the most notable being Sauza), pioneer Cuervo remains the world's largest tequila manufacturer.

Improvements in transportation during the 19th century helped take the fruits of Mexican distillers' tequila labor into North America and beyond. As its popularity increased beyond Mexico's borders, tequila also experienced a growing reputation within the country during the revolution of the early 1900s, when the drink became a symbol of national pride. Caught in a nationalistic fervor, Mexicans quickly cast aside imports in favor of home-grown products of all kinds. Before long, tequila became synonymous with hard-living, fearless gunslingers like Pancho Villa - heroes of the era. In America, the Mexican favorite experienced a surge in popularity during Prohibition, when thirsty drinkers were tempted by tequila smuggled across the border, and again during WWII, when hostilities made European imports scarce.

Legend has it that the drink tequila made famous, the margarita, was first mixed in Mexico or a nearby state sometime between 1930 and 1955. The cocktail made its way into gringo hands, and no lime or Mexican flag on a toothpick has been safe since.

Don't Call It Cactus

Though often confused, mezcal and tequila are not one and the same. Both are distilled from the agave plant, a succulent from the same family as the lily and the amaryllis, but only liquors made from the blue agave are called tequila. Contrary to popular belief, agave is not a cactus. Though agave shares a common habitat with many prickly cacti neighbors, it has a different life cycle, and there are 136 Mexican species in its own unique agave family.

The process of creating tequila begins when the blue agave plant ripens, usually eight to 12 years after planting. Because the plant must be ripe enough to have sufficient sugars for fermentation, a jimador first performs the crucial task of chopping leaves away from the plant's core to assess its ripeness. If the plant is deemed ready, the core - or piña - is cut away and taken to a distillery for roasting in furnaces called hornos. After roasting, the piñas are shredded, and the juices pressed out and placed in vats or fermenting tanks. Once in the vats, yeast is added to the juices to convert the sugars of the agave to alcohol. These agents are so vital to the process and to creating unique tastes in tequila that distillers keep very tight-lipped about their individual yeasts. The resulting juices then ferment 30 to 48 hours before undergoing distillation twice. The outcome is a rich, potent, colorless liquid between 70 and 110 proof. The color comes later, brought on by wooden barrel aging, or from the addition of caramel or wood essence. In the final step of processing, most tequila is filtered through cellulose filters or activated carbon before bottling.

Protecting a National Treasure

Mexicans are understandably proud and protective of their national alcoholic spirit, and between World Wars I and II, the Mexican government began efforts to closely monitor production and distribution of tequila. In 1944, the government decreed that any product called tequila had to be made by distilling agave in the state of Jalisco. Today, there are only five regions where tequila can be legally made; most are in the semi-arid plateaus and highlands of Jalisco and the adjoining states of Guanajuato, Michoacan and Nayarit, and the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

To help guarantee the quality of tequila, in 1978 the Normas Oficial Mexicana (NOM) was established, regulating all agricultural, industrial and commercial processes related to the spirit. Since then, the industry has continued to grow, with more than 50,000 hectares of agave under cultivation and more than 500 brands of tequila available today. To help control the burgeoning industry, the Tequila Regulatory Council (TRC) was founded in 1994 to oversee industry production, quality and standards.

The fundamental standard set by these oversight agencies categorizes tequila based on the percentage of blue agave juice it contains. Tequila 100 percent Agave must be made with solely blue agave juices and bottled in Mexico. Tequila or "ordinary tequila" must be made with at least 51 percent blue agave juices and may be exported in bulk for bottling in other countries according to the NOM standard.

Which tequilas are "best" is primarily a matter of individual taste. With increasing manufacturers pumping cash into spiffy packaging, sexy bottles and glossy ads, a more expensive tequila doesn't necessarily mean a better product. There are numerous quality tequilas available for $20-$50 USD. Most brands available for under $20 are usually mixto (not 100 percent agave) and are mass-produced for local markets. A good and tasty way to find a favorite is to sample a wide variety of brands in the different styles: Blanco for its young, rough edge and rich agave flavor; Reposado, which is sharp and peppery; and the woody, smooth Anejo. Trying to settle on a personal favorite is a good excuse to work one's way across the tequila shelf at the local bar, one bottle at a time.

Tequila's Uncertain Future

While tequila has a good-time reputation as the key ingredient of backyard fiestas and frat parties, there's a dark side to this South-of-the-Border libation. The popularity of Mexico's national treasure has, in some ways, caused tequila more harm than good. Growing demand has led to discontent among agave farmers who, in 1996, organized a protest against exploitation by some producers. Their blockade ultimately cost the industry millions, and the loss was passed on to consumers via price increases.

Another blow struck the tequila industry in 1997, when producer Don Jesus Lopez Roman was killed in a gangland-style execution outside his factory. Roman, whose Tequila San Matias distillery was founded in 1884, had become unpopular after taking a vocal stance in support of bottling all tequilas in Mexico and banning bulk exports to ensure content and quality. His murder remains unsolved.

If labor disputes and murder aren't enough, a recent plague of pests, diseases and impending shortage of agave has led to potential crisis. Faced with spiraling agave costs, several distillers have discontinued their low-end brands to concentrate on their premium, higher-priced tequilas. The buzz among bartenders is that as availability of blue agave declines, the price of tequila will rise and quality may not go along for the ride.

But those who love tequila for its unique, sultry taste and colorful history won't be dissuaded by these natural and man-made dramas. As the Conquistadors discovered, once you've been captivated by this ancient spirit, there's no turning back from tequila.

Blue Agave Mist Twist of lime Crushed ice 1 1/2 to 2 oz. anejo tequila Rim old-fashion glass with lime twist, and fill with crushed ice. Add tequila and lime twist. Aztec Sky 3/4 oz. gold tequila 3/4 oz. Blue Curaçao Serve as a shot. Mexicali Rose 1 oz. blanco tequila 4 oz. cranberry juice cocktail 1/2 oz. lime juice Shake and strain. Garnish with lime wheel.

Alice in Wonderland 1/2 oz. tequila 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier 1/2 oz. Tia Maria Serve as a shot. Beergarita 1 1/2 oz. tequila 1/2 oz. triple sec 1 oz. lemon juice 9 oz. cold beer Splash of lime Salt Rub rim of beer mug with lime juice, and dip in salt. Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into salt-rimmed mug. Fill with beer and serve. Apollo 1 1/2 oz. tequila 1 oz. Galliano 1 oz. Blue Curaçao Cream Shake tequila, Galliano and Curaçao with ice, and strain into cocktail glass. Float cream on top.