As is probably not obvious from this blog, I do occasionally go out to drink. Not often enough, as drinking fancy cocktails at NYC bars can get pricey very quickly, but in the same hand, living in NYC, loving booze, and not going out to partake of the best is the purview of fools and the extremely lazy. I am often the latter, but I am no fool!
Last night I got the opportunity to not be a fool at all, thanks to David Burke at Bloomingdale’s, Inocente Tequila, and my dear friend Nicole of The NY City Dish. Nicole, through her crazy food-blogger connections (or more likely from dining at a David Burke restaurant before and filling out a comment card), got us on the list for the event: a four-course menu consisting of seven small plates, two desserts, and four cocktails, all for $42 (plus tax and tip). Obscene! Just an obscene deal, and the meal itself was ridiculous in a very good way, but this blog isn’t here to talk about food. Let me tell you about the booze that was the backbone of the event.
Inocente Tequila’s shtick is that that it’s triple-distilled, whereas most tequilas are double distilled, making for a particularly clean and smooth taste. There’s also something about a “micro-oxygenation process” and a lot of other cleverly chosen words to indicate that this is supposed to be a fancy tequila for fancy people. In any case, the event served up five variations to show off the booze:
1. Classic Margarita – Inocente tequila, lime juice, agave nectar. This one they just handed to us when we walked in the door, and continued to hand them to us until the dinner started. This was a lot smoother than I’m used to margaritas tasting, but to be perfectly honest, I am not usually drinking the classiest of margaritas. Okay, to be extra honest, if I’m drinking a margarita it’s usually frozen and came out of a pitcher. I am classy. But this was smooth and sweet, and reminded me in flavor of a caipirinha, one of my favorite drinks.
2. Double Down – Inocente tequila, cucumber puree, serrano pepper, lime juice, agave nectar. I am all about savory cocktails, especially those that involve cucumber, so I loved this one. It was fresh up front, had smooth body, and had quite a kick on the back end from the peppers. This went incredibly perfectly with the first course of ceviche and gazpacho.
3. Inocente Puro - Okay, that’s just the fancy name they gave it on the menu, but this was just a shot of the tequila straight, complete with a little glass of coffee beans and vanilla pods to cleanse the sniffing palate before sipping. Now, I don’t have much experience with blanco tequilas as sipping tequilas; my mom was into tequilas for sipping, but she mostly had añejo and reposado tequilas. This was very smooth and a little sugary on the tongue, and honestly reminded me of cachaça.
4. Pure Innocence – Inocente tequila, fresh basil, lemon juice, agave nectar, soda water. This was my absolute favorite, summery and refreshing. I’m really into basil as a cocktail ingredient right now, so having a fresh sprig right there to sniff with every sip was such a pleasure. I could have had about six of these without blinking.
5. Life’s a Peach – Inocente tequila, white peach puree, lemon juice, prosecco. This, though, was a disappointment as the last cocktail of the night. I didn’t get any taste of peach at all, just a strange bitterness and an unpleasantly heavily alcohol taste. The only good part of this cocktail was the little crispy balls of chocolate they floated in it, which I tried to be as subtle as possible (and mostly failed) at shaking all of them out of the bottom of the glass and into my mouth.
Was Inocente tequila good? Yes. It was smooth and combined well with a variety of cocktail types. Would I buy it on my own? I’m not sure, but that’s just a matter of my personal tastes. I don’t make many tequila cocktails when left to my own devices, and when it comes to liquor I’m going to be sipping, I prefer the bouquets of gin or the classic taste of brown liquors. Also, no one told me how much a bottle of this stuff costs, but I’m guessing it’s a lot. Still, it was a fantastic experience, and one I hope to repeat again next month at the similar event for Leblon Cachaça.
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