Suzi's Blog
Chimayo III: An Apple Cider Cocktail with a Chile Kick
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.
Chimayo II: A Cocktail Work in Progress
Apples.
It’s peak apple season in the Northeast, with apples popping up on store shelves and the tables of farmers’ markets. Tonight, Brian and I had an apple-themed dinner party. Every course had something applish. All the recipes will appear here over the coming week or so. The first recipe was, of course, for an apple-oriented cocktail.
“We have a lot of tequila,” I suggested. “Apple Margarita?”
Brian did some research, with no luck. No apple margarita recipes were to be found, and he took that as a sign from God. Speaking of God, he finally consulted Diffords at diffordsguide.com. Looking at the combination of tequila and apple juice he found the Chimayo:
- 2 shots of tequila
- ½ shot of crème de cassis liqueur
- ¾ shot of pressed apple juice
- ¼ shot of freshly squeezed lemon juice
He made the cocktail and neither of us was not fully satisfied. The tequila flavor dominated, and Brian was using full-flavored apple cider, not just apple juice. There were no apple overtones at all.
Brian experimented with different proportions and ended up using much more apple cider for what I will dub the Chimayo II:
- 2 shots of tequila
- ½ shot of crème de cassis liqueur
- 2½ shots of pressed apple juice
- ¼ shot of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 shot of simple syrup
To make this drink, put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake until cold and pour into a martini glass filled with crushed ice.
Our guests tonight liked this combination. So do I. Suzen is critical, saying it needs more. So, I’ll call this Chimayo II a work in progress and keep tuning it. If you want to experiment yourself, and find something you think is good, please let me know.
I think the balance now between the distinctive tequila flavor and the apple is good. The sugar syrup gives a touch of sweetness to contrast with the tequila heat. The cassis is not obvious, and I’m going to experiment with dropping it, but upping the lemon. And, just to be complete, I want to substitute lime for lemon juice as well. I still want more dimension and perhaps that is the path to achieve it.
If we succeed, we’ll let you know.
