So the blazing salas—
blazing sallas... >> Blazing salads!
>> JASON: Blazing salads.
You take some iceberg lettuce, a little bit of Everclear 151, you light it and you toss.
Yep, new at Chili's, the Blazing Salads.
[Brian's voice echos in the distance] ♪ MODERN ROGUE! ♪
[robot voice] The modern rogue makes a Blazing Saddles.
♪ ["brzzy_bump" by invention_] ♪ Back again at an undisclosed location in downtown Austin with our favorite bartender in the
entire universe, Trever Fehrenbach.
How you doing, Trever?
I'm doing well, how are you guys doing?
All right, dude, what adventure do you have for us today?
Well, you know, a lot of times we talk about these classic drinks,
as you like to say so many times,
"apocryphal stories."
We are actually going to do my personal favorite drink, because well, dammit,
I made it.
Oh shoot!
A Trever original!
This is great, what is the story on this one?
So this is the first time we're going to be doing one of my original drinks.
Last year, when Gene Wilder died,
I decided I was going to make a drink in his honor.
And he was always a big influence of mine when I was a kid, I always loved his movies.
My favorite movie was always Blazing Saddles.
So, I thought I wanted to make a unique drink that was much like him and his unique talent,
and since it's "blazing" saddles, I wanted to make a spicy drink.
All the way in.
Oh, yeah. You're a big spicy fan! >> BRIAN: Loving what I'm hearing.
Right, right.
All right, tell us what is in a Blazing Saddle.
Okay, your best drinks you're going to find are layered.
When they're layered, they have the proper amount of acidity, sweetness to them,
maybe a sour or tart note, and there's always kind of a nose coming from the drink.
I wanted to hit on all these layers and include spice.
So something really complex?
As much as it could be, and as effervescent as I could make it.
Okay, so what is the closest drink to a Blazing Saddles that I might already be familiar with?
Perhaps a Last Word.
I replaced the gin with a reposado tequila.
This is amazing to me,
because none of these I've heard mean anything to me.
I don't know what a Last Word is.
Let's go on this adventure, I'm ready!
Okay.
Whenever you're making a cocktail, keep this in mind,
you want to add the least expensive
ingredients first.
What happens if you pour too much and you've got to pour it out?
You don't want to pour any of that booze down the drain.
So we're going to start with our sugar and our juice first.
So we're going to do a half ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice.
And then we're going to do a quarter ounce or bar spoon of simple syrup.
Okay.
I typically use a quarter ounce, just to kind of help with the spice,
but it's based on preference.
If someone doesn't want too sweet of a drink, I might cut back and just do a bar spoon.
Okay.
But a quarter ounce is typically around a bar spoon.
And then, next what we're going to use,
this is green chartreuse.
>> BRIAN: Chartreuse?
What is chartreuse?
It's been made only by these monks in France.
That is one of the only places that you can get it,
and it is a variety of herbal spices and stuff like that.
It's a liqueur, and it's been made since like the early 1700s.
Wow!
This is like a well-kept secret!
This is amazing. >> It's fascinating, right?
What does it taste like?
It's kind of hard to describe until you actually try it, but there is a game amongst bartenders
called Chartreuse Face.
>> BRIAN: Okay.
And what it is, you take a shot of chartreuse and you hold it in your mouth, and you see
who can hold it in the longest.
[echoing announcer voice] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first annual edition of Chartreuse Face,
[audience applauds] starring our guest, Brian Brushwood!
I'm going to need one too.
Oh, you're going to need one too! Oh great! Great!
♪ ["60's Samba" by matthewcreid] ♪ You and I are going to do this.
♪ ["60's Samba" by matthewcreid] ♪ And you just hold it in your mouth?
Yeah, and we're going to do just a little baby one.
So you don't swallow?
You just hold it in your mouth.
Yeah, I don't know, flowers.
In my mind it'll be like the violet liqueur.
The main ingredient in it is genepi, which is an alpine herb.
You're going to get a lot of different notes off of this.
>> Okay.
And just hold it in your mouth? >> Yeah, we're just going to sip.
And try to keep your face cool?
Just, yeah. All right.
♪ 60's Samba persists ♪
[giggling]
[a variety of closed-mouth murmuring]
[stifled laughter]
I'm swallowing mine.
[laughter]
Agh!
You spit it out!
♪ ["Rain" by B-Side] ♪
Was it too much?
No, here's the thing.
It's got that strong anise flavoring.
>> JASON: Oh god, no.
I can't handle that, I can not handle that.
It tastes like flowers and anise.
[stammering]
I dig it.
I could drink this straight from the bottle.
>> JASON: Ooh. >> Yeah, sorry.
You picked the wrong competitor! >> JASON: Wow.
I flip the bar over.
Nicely done.
Now chartreuse is somewhat expensive, right?
Yeah, so—
Oh, now it's soap!
[laughter]
That's weird. I'm sorry.
Like I said, you're going to get a lot of different notes.
So yes, chartreuse tends to be expensive.
You're going to pay upwards and over $50 per bottle.
>> BRIAN: Wow.
So there are alternatives, and this is Dolin, which is pretty big in the vermouth family.
They tend to produce a lot of vermouth.
This is the main component of chartreuse, like I said, this is the genepi root or herb.
And you can use this in place of chartreuse, it doesn't taste exactly like it, you can
tell the difference, but if you're looking for a less expensive option,
then I would go with this.
I am going to use green chartreuse in this drink today,
so that you get the full effect of this drink.
Now, when you're mixing chartreuse, you want to be careful not putting too much.
You can put anywhere from a quarter ounce to a half ounce in this drink,
I'm going to do a quarter ounce,
and it typically comes out a little bit more balanced when I do it that way.
Next we're going to use, I'm sure everyone has seen this put into a champagne glass.
>> JASON: Oh, St-Germain. Okay.
>> BRIAN: I'm not familiar, what is this another liqueur?
Yes, this is the elderflower liqueur.
This is hand-picked elderflowers, and then turned into a liqueur
much like the crème de violette from the aviation.
It is a flower that they turn into a liqueur.
This was produced by the Bacardi company.
This is a very, I mean, as far as spirits go very new, because it was released in 2006.
You add this to any glass of really crappy champagne, and it'll turn it right around.
So we're going to do a half ounce of this.
This is also a good substitute, because it can replace sugar because of the sweetness in it.
>> JASON: Oh, okay.
So half ounce.
And then the main component is a reposado tequila, today we're using Espolòn.
>> JASON: We actually used that in the—
In the five bottle bar.
Yes, and we also used it in the spicy margarita.
We're in Texas, this is one of the biggest brands in Texas.
It's pretty much asked for by name.
When they ask for tequila, they say Espolòn, and if you don't have it then they move on.
That's one of the things we should point out, all of the recipes we do
are sensible for here in Texas.
When we did our five bottle bar, somebody complained from Germany like,
"Tito's is stupid expensive."
"Do I have to get Tito's?" >> Really?
And it's like, man, it is affordable and made right in our backyard.
It is delicious. >> Yeah.
We do kind of reap the benefits on that, because there are several spirits in Texas that are
cheaper here than it is in anywhere else.
>> BRIAN: Yeah.
I also chose Espolòn, because as it grows,
they seem to be content with their price right now.
So once you do start seeing it in more states,
it's going to be about the same price as it is now.
This is going to be an ounce and a half.
♪ ["Trey Gowdy" by Tusken] ♪
So, there's an ounce,
and a half.
Now, here comes the fire.
This is a habanero tincture that we make in-house.
How does one make a tincture?
To make this habanero tincture, we take a bottle of Tito's,
and one pound of fresh habaneros, chopped,
let them sit in a cambro for about three days, and then we just filter and strain it.
Oh I thought for sure you were going to say, "We know an alchemist."
We go to the apothecary, they put on those big masks!
Any time you have a tincture, it's simply going to be a root, or an herb, or a vegetable
like a cucumber, or a fruit.
And you just let it macerate inside of an alcohol for a couple of days, it soaks up
the flavor, you've got a tincture.
You put it in a little angostura bottle that you've cleaned out.
With habanero, I like it because serranos and jalapeños, which are used a lot,
they stick to the palette too much.
I do two dashes. Now with the habanero tincture I will say, depending on how fresh the habaneros
are is how spicy the tincture is going to be.
Lately, it's been a little spicy, so be prepared.
Great, good good.
So just two healthy dashes.
One, two.
And the habanero, that'll be a more subtle upfront, but then it'll still have that warmth
like you get. >> Correct.
I like to serve this drink up, I think it's a drink that you're going to sip on.
There's a lot of great flavors.
What's this glass called again?
Coupe.
And it was designed after?
>> BRIAN: A boobie.
The rumor is, Marie Antoinette's breast. >> BRIAN: Yeah.
I don't think that's true.
Okay, so we're going to add ice to the tin, and just like the rest of our drinks,
we're just going to do a healthy shake.
Just get it going,
and what you're listening for is for the ice to break up and you get
a nice, solid movement back and forth.
And so we do want it to kind of get a little diluted with the broken ice?
Yeah, a lot of these drinks that I make have some overproof liquor or some strong liquor,
so you want a little water in there to dilute it.
Okay, because you had always told us, "Don't shake unless there's citrus or egg," right?
Yeah, because you want to add the protein, you want to mix all of the proteins together
with the spirit.
Now, I can't stress this enough, I love to double-strain my drinks, because
it takes away the ice chips, therefore the texture is going to be the same throughout.
>> JASON: Oh, okay.
So we're going to pour that in here, and you're going to see from that chartreuse, you're
going to get a very bright green drink.
Wow!
That thing really pops.
One of the hottest flames is actually green, so.
>> BRIAN: Oh, that's true!
May I?
Well...
There's one more thing. >> He's got to garnish it.
♪ ["Twrk" by Tesk] ♪ It wouldn't be complete without one of my ridiculous garnishes.
>> JASON: Okay.
>> BRIAN: Oh, you use a match as a garnish, that's amazing!
>> Clever.
>> Of course!
>> JASON: A Blazing Saddle!
Now Brian's going to take it and eat the fire.
I considered that, I'm not going to lie.
The history of fire eating...
Oh man, you know I didn't think about it, but that sulfur blast that you get, that's
going to effect the flavor profile for me.
I actually have another version of this drink when it has Mezcal in it.
In which Mezcal is a, for lack of better words we'll say a smokey tequila.
It really matches with the drink once you light that match.
So there's no nose on it, really.
>> JASON: I think you're going to like it.
Ooh, that warmth.
Okay, normally there's a linear journey, this is so much in parallel all at once.
It is smooth, and easy, and warm.
That first sip is like a cool iced tea on a hot day, does that make sense?
Yeah.
Where it's like, what really hits you is the refreshing feel,
and then you get the warmth afterwards.
It's wild, I don't know that I have the words to explain the flavor profile of this.
I only have the images, right? >> It's really complex. Yeah.
>> JASON: Okay, so we've got lime juice in there, we've got simple syrup, some Chartreuse, some St-Germain.
>> TREVER: Respasado tequila from Espolòn.
>> JASON: Espolòn respasado tequila, and—
>> TREVER: Two dashes of habanero tincture
and finished off with a match and cherry.
>> JASON: That's the key, the habanero tincture.
The Blazing Saddles!
A Trever original.
Yes, absolutely.
I...
I think this might be my new favorite.
Yeah?
It's great, I like this as much as I like the spicy margarita,
and that's what I always get when I come back.
Yeah, I thought you would get a kick out of that.
Thank you.
Are you getting the floral notes in there?
Yeah!
Now you've got to punch a horse.
Let me dive back in.
That's the real garnish, we have a horse back here that you pull out, and you punch it in the face.
Man, I wish I had the words for the flavors!
I don't have the words for the flavors!
It's really good.
>> JASON: What do you like to do?
Play chess.
Screw.
[laughter]
Let's play chess!
— CC BY BIZARRE MAGIC — [branding furnace hissing]
[static and wind]