I said I would fix the Chimayo II cocktail and I have.
My inspiration? A map and a memory.
Have you ever been in Chimayo? It’s easy to miss. Or to go there and get lost.
To get from Santa Fe to Taos there are two paths. The fast Interstate highway. And the winding, two-lane scenic High Road to Taos. Take the high road, a six pack of beer and chest of hot tamales. And plan on the drive taking a long time as you wind through passes and valleys filled with scenic wonders.
Along the way, you will pass through Chimayo, New Mexico. I would not drive this in the winter, because the snow can hide the old leaning sign telling where you need to make a left hand turn for Taos. If you miss that left, you will go straight then hit some curves, the road will go from two lanes to one, from paved to rutted, from flat to uphill.
And if it is winter, you just may get stuck in the snow. The picture above is of the car in front of us one winter. They were lost, too, and I held back as they tried to get up the hill, skidded and went into the ditch. That picture was taken after a half hour spent getting them out of the ditch. We finally got them carefully turned around. We had cookies in our car so we fed the “stuckies” while everyone took turns huffing and shoving and shoveling. After an hour, we all made it back to that snow-buried sign in downtown Chimayo. And we all got to Taos.
Chimayo. New Mexico. Chiles! And apples? What goes with apples? Cinnamon. So here is the Chimayo III, a really, really good cocktail. If I do say so myself.
Chimayo III
- 2 ounces of tequila
- 2 ounces of sugar syrup
- 2 ounces of apple cider
- 1 ounce of lime juice
- 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/16 teaspoon of jalapeno chile powder
To make this drink, put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and mix with a spoon until the cinnamon and chile powder are dissolved. Add ice to the shaker, shake until very cold and pour into a martini glass filled with crushed ice.
This is a great combination of flavors. The cinnamon just completes the apple taste. The back taste is from the chile powder firing up your throat. The proportions of tequila, sugar syrup, and apple cider can, of course, all be adjusted. My proportions here make for a sweet drink. There is enough tequila here to give you a true hit, but you can adjust it up if you want to. If you go so far as to double the tequila, it will dominate and you will not be tasting the apple cider. If you want to experiment, I’d start with cutting the amount of sugar syrup.