welcome friends welcome back to the
kitchen welcome back to cocktails after
dark today we're going to do a cocktail
out of this book the cafe royal cocktail
book
this is the coronation edition published
in 1937 but there was only one edition
published in this time period and we're
going to do another one of these early
tequila cocktails
and i've said this before
finding tequila cocktails in pre-world
war ii cocktail books is is very
difficult there weren't too many of them
this one is called the rio grande and
we're going to do it two ways with two
different tequilas a tequila typical of
1937 and tequila that doesn't show up
on the shelves or a style of tequila
that doesn't show up until 1974.
so
first thing it starts out asking for
italian vermouth and in this time period
italian vermouth was shorthand for red
sweet vermouth
i'm using a red sweet vermouth but it
happens to be made in france
which is different than french vermouth
which is shorthand in this time period
for
white dry vermouth
next in asks for gin and it just says
gin it doesn't say dry gin
just gin so i'm taking it to mean dry
gin
almost at a gin i almost ran out okay so
the first tequila we're going to use is
this cuervo it is a 100 blue agave
tequila
pretty typical of what you would have
found in 1937.
this is a reposado tequila and reposados
didn't show up um until 1974 which is
kind of mind-blowing that barrel-aged
tequilas
are sort of that new in the marketplace
this
is an ice and shake cocktail
and i hear you screaming but david
wundrich says you never shake
a cocktail that's only alcohol
[Music]
but
this is
1937
and a completely different set
of cocktail rules were in force
in fact a lot of the rules just didn't
exist
these are things that have come by later
there's rules and people love you to
follow rules and they make up rules and
they make you do stuff that you don't
want to do because it's a rule anyway
this is a tequila cocktail a shaken
shaken tequila
cocktail
um
this one is cuervo okay this one is uh
casamigos one of the most hated tequilas
on the internet really yes i kind of
like it anyway let's go
it's okay
i don't know how to interpret that face
i wasn't clearly i was paying attention
to what i was drinking and not to your
face and when you drank this i'm
concerned there's quite a furrow in your
in your brow
whoa exactly wow that's you know
that's
i can see why there's a furrow in your
brow there's some heat behind that has
that is bold and
big and
not really for me
no it's it's um
it packs a punch oh yeah okay so
the rio
grande to me is this river that you know
people cross in movies
yes there's lots of songs and and i i've
never seen it is it this muddy brown
color
could it be a double play on both the
color and the fact that it uses tequila
which is from the other side of the rio
grande
um
you've really got to like alcohol to
like this this cocktail yes
yes you do you really have to like
alcohol i think the mix
of of gin and tequila works
you're concerned that's the is that the
flavor you're doing well the vermouth
brings uh
i don't even want to have it the second
one
is really good i could probably sip
another one that is just too big
yeah no it's it's bold and it's funny
because it's not like it's the first
time we've ever had a a cocktail that's
all alcohol
right no it's not yeah
you go that's that's all they are
they're just right
but that the combination of those three
flavors is just
a lot
okay not for me
not for me i've
i've
you know
if you don't like something taste it a
second time if you don't like it the
second time maybe not the third and
that's
no okay
um
worthwhile experiment
maybe try it with a different vermouth
maybe dole and vermouth is the is the
one that is not working that's the thing
right it could be a very subtle
difference that makes it change
completely and makes it just palatable
to you and i i know i love this gin in
other cocktails i know that i like these
tequilas in other cocktails
this might be the odd thing in this one
i don't know okay thanks for stopping by
see you again soon
you