I do know it might sound odd, however Thanksgiving all the time makes me take into consideration tequila. I recounted the story of why in a submit years in the past, however for these of you (the overwhelming majority of you) who didn’t learn that or don’t bear in mind it, I’ll recount it once more:
I bear in mind the primary time I used to be concerned in planning and executing a Thanksgiving dinner. One 12 months in school, some associates and I made a decision to hire a cabin at Lake Tahoe as an alternative of heading residence for the lengthy vacation weekend. Since we had been from all around the nation, the journey again for a household meal appeared like it could be extra hassle than it was price, plus we figured cramming a dozen folks right into a ski chalet rental rental could be extra enjoyable, anyway.
Nonetheless, we had been nostalgic for not less than a modicum of Thanksgiving custom, so we ran right down to Safeway to purchase a turkey on the final minute. One member of our crew fancied himself as a superb prepare dinner and promised he had a recipe for Mexicali turkey we might love. We deputized him to take over the kitchen and watched as he shopped for simply six dozen limes and an additional fifth of tequila to “marinate” the chook.
Possibly we didn’t pay sufficient consideration to the time and temp, or possibly we’d have been doing marinade photographs and simply didn’t care, however the chook ended up just about like this one from the Griswold household Christmas meal. It ended up so dry and salty we took to daring one another to do tequila photographs with turkey chasers.
So watch out along with your chook and don’t set the oven to auto-clean.
Whilst you’re cooking, you would possibly need to combine up a couple of cocktails with some merchandise from Cambio Tequila, newly out there in Nashville. The model is the venture of John des Rosiers, a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef who has labored in well-known eating places each as a prepare dinner and as a sommelier. He nonetheless runs a small restaurant group whereas he manages his new tequila enterprise.
Des Rosiers married a girl from Jalisco, Mexico, and one among her cousins approached him with an concept to create a brand new tequila model. Since his spouse’s household lives within the highlands of Jalisco, they’re very conversant in most of the tequila distilleries and agave farmers within the area, and des Rosiers was intrigued. He visited 18 completely different distilleries to study in regards to the course of of producing tequila and to discover a future manufacturing associate.
He settled on ZB Distillery as a result of they shared his experimentative nature and innate curiosity. Des Rosiers found that the majority tequila distilleries use recycled bread yeast for fermentation, and his expertise as a sommelier led him down the trail of how he might make a greater spirit. He labored with wine-yeast producers to see if that may very well be used to ferment tequila. Nobody actually knew if it could, however ZB was recreation to attempt.
The wine yeast wasn’t constructed for pace, and the conventional five-day fermentation interval for tequila was drawn out to greater than two weeks. This created the next density of flavors that allowed the spirit to face out in cocktails as an alternative of being overtaken, which is often the case. Des Rosiers additionally selected to not chill-filter his product, which created a beautiful creamy mouthfeel texture within the distillate. Once more considering of how it could carry out as a part of a cocktail, he bottled his ultimate product at 92 proof — in my view, the proper alcohol degree for mixology.
The entrepreneur nonetheless wasn’t completed along with his tinkering. Most blanco tequilas go straight from the tank to the bottle, however Cambio insists that each product will get not less than a while in a barrel. And never simply any previous barrel. The overwhelming majority of tequilas are aged in used whiskey barrels so the char and the leftover spirits within the wooden can contribute coloration and flavors to the reposado and añejo varieties. Des Rosiers wished to see what used wine barrels might add to the combo as an alternative.
Cambio Blanco spends not less than two weeks in barrels that beforehand held white Bordeaux and Burgundy wines. The wine barrels contribute a pleasant roundness and softness to the blanco, elevating it above the standard shot or margarita utilization that the majority blancos benefit. The truth that these aren’t whiskey barrels means the method is far softer on the agave and permits the inexperienced vegetal notes of the plant to shine.
His reposado will get six months in oak, together with not less than a month in these used wine barrels. Ever the mad scientist, des Rosiers works with three completely different cooperages to scrape the char out of former whiskey barrels after which re-toast them so as to add the traits he’s on the lookout for. At any given time, Cambio has a palette of 15 completely different barrel specs that they will work with so as to add the precise attributes des Rosiers is in search of as he tastes his merchandise constantly all through the method.
The reposado displays way more character than most aged tequilas which can be aged solely the minimal of two months. Cambio reposado is extra like a mini-añejo, floral and tropical on the nostril with notes of nuts and vanilla on the palate. At $59 a bottle, it’s head and shoulders above many celebrity-owned tequilas at a lot larger worth factors.
Cambio’s flagship añejo is barely $10 extra, which is exceptional once you consider the additional effort and time that goes into managing all these completely different barrels, the premium yeast that Cambio makes use of and the blue agave that des Rosiers buys from a co-op of native farmers who really separate mutated crops into 9 completely different varieties and replant them in numerous fields to take care of biodiversity.
Cambio’s añejo spends not less than 22 months in quite a lot of casks — toasted and untoasted French oak barrels and Cognac casks. The result’s a remarkably complicated tequila in which you’ll actually detect the contribution of the grapes to the method. Toasty and floral with a pleasant texture, it is a sipper, not a shooter. I’m positive it could even be nice in a cocktail, however I believe that might be overkill. This ought to be a snifter expertise.
Des Rosiers additionally releases restricted editions of his experimental batches as purple label merchandise referred to as the Cellar Reserve Sequence. One referred to as El Desliz (or “The Mistake” in English) stems from a mix-up on the cooperage that resulted in a novel product that didn’t match the flavour and profile that Cambio wished to make use of of their common manufacturing. So des Rosiers determined to bottle it individually and promote it by way of his web site. Launched at cask energy, it drinks extra like a Cognac than a tequila, and his mistake is your achieve.
In simply a few months within the Nashville market, Cambio has seen sturdy pickup at native spirits shops and forward-thinking cocktail bars like The Fox, Bar Sovereign and Martha, My Expensive, so you need to be capable of observe some down should you’re serious about altering the way in which you consider tequila.
Simply don’t use it to marinate your turkey!
