The Botany & Alchemy and I'm Your Venus cocktails from etc.
I once asked a bartender friend why I should pay $14 for a top-shelf margarita when the house-special version was only $5 during happy hour. He told me to sit down while he used fresh-squeezed juices, good tequila and Cointreau to make a delightful, citrusy treat that he shook with ice until it was cold and frothy.
He slid it across the bar to me, then reached underneath the rail.
“That’s a good margarita," he said. "This is a happy hour margarita!”
He proceeded to lift up one of those 10-gallon buckets, like the ones you use as a shopping basket at Home Depot, and slosh 8 ounces of neon-yellow swill into a glass with a salted rim. Point taken.
That’s why I urge you to consider seeking out better beverages if you go out to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year. Not only will you enjoy superior cocktails, you’ll most likely avoid the crowds of celebrants enjoying “Drinko de Mayo.”
Here are a couple of suggestions for you:
Etc. is really upping its Mexican spirits game — and not just tequila, and not just for May 5. The cocktail menu has featured three intriguing cocktails that would definitely be elevated ways to celebrate Mexico’s victory over the French at the Second Battle of Puebla in 1862.
I’m particularly favorable toward their “Botany & Alchemy,” with the rare and sought-after green Chartreuse as a main ingredient, along with Luxardo Maraschino, green peppery Ancho Reyes Verde, cucumber and a wild card ingredient — Xtabentun from D’Aristi. I used to be a frequent vacationer to the Yucatan Peninsula, and I became enamored of this particular spirit (pronounced “SHTAH-ben-TOON”), which is made from local honey and anise.
For people who love words, there's much to appreciate in the names surrounding Deb Paquette's latest endeavor. First, there's the restaurant t…
In the Yucatan, particularly around Cozumel, the last drink of the evening is referred to as “la hach,” and Xtabentun was one of my favorites at the all-inclusive resort we used to frequent. (The other was a double Licor 43, which the bartenders and I had worked into a short-hand drink call of “Una ochenta y seis, por favor.”) Now that I know that D’Aristi has distribution in Nashville, maybe I won’t have to hit up duty-free and leave room in my carry-on bag for the return trip next time.
Another etc. creation is the “I’m Your Venus,” featuring mezcal from Un Memento Espadin along with Cartron Banane banana liqueur, a tamarind simple syrup, lemon juice and “Fee Foam,” a vegan foaming additive from Fee Brothers that adds a lovely texture to cocktails. The third south-of-the-border offering from etc. is the “Jacaranda Dream,” a floral creation featuring Vival Agave Silver tequila, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, Rothman & Winter crème de violette and lavender water. I’ve not sampled this one yet, but it sounds like a very refined “pinkies-out” kinda cocktail.
At etc.’s sister restaurant Etch, the mixology team is also going international with a cocktail called “Ruins of Ipanema,” which I suppose makes it more Brazilian than Mexican. But the ingredients are puro Mexicano. Nashville based, woman-owned and woman-distilled tequila company Southbound is the base spirit accented with boozy Planteray OFTD overproof rum, my old favorite Licor 43 and espresso, agave and Aztec bitters. I always say that reading an Etch menu item could make you feel like they’re including one ingredient too many, but also that I trust chef Deb Paquette and her team to pull it off. They always do, and that goes for the bar staff too!
Finally, if you’d like to try a spot outside of the etc./Etch family, Vivek Surti at Tailor and his bar staff have come up with a Latin take on the traditional “Last Word” cocktail. Their “La Otra Palabra” substitutes Xicaru Mezcal for the gin, yellow chartreuse for the usual green version, and then keeps the expected Luxardo and lime juice. It sounds like it’s worth a try to me.
