Bottle Swap: Ancho Reyes

It's week 2 of my bottle swap with Mr. Muddle! If you missed it, check out last week's cocktails made with The King's Ginger. This week we're working with the bottle that was at the top of my wish list, Ancho Reyes. Before you read on, be sure to check out Mr. Muddle's cocktail, The Pope of Chili Town!

Ancho Reyes is a liqueur is flavored with ancho chiles, which are dried and smoked poblano peppers. A neutral sugar cane spirit is steeped with the peppers for six months, then aged. According to the makers of Ancho Reyes, it's based on a recipe from 1927. Back then, cantinas in the town of Puebla, Mexico each served their own menjurjes, spirits made with local ingredients. The Reyes family created one with the local dried poblanos that was the inspiration for Ancho Reyes. But though the recipe is old, the spirit itself is quite new; it was created in 2014.

For a great virtual tour of the distillery and the process of making Ancho Reyes from field to bottle, check out Alcademics.

Ancho Reyes

Price: $40
Alcohol Content: 40%
Popular Cocktails: Ancho Margarita, Ancho Old Fashioned... basically add it to any tequila cocktail!

I knew Ancho Reyes would be great for adding a bit of spice to cocktails, but what I didn't expect was its complexity and drinkability. When you first sip it, you get the richness and sweetness of the aging process. Then the spice of the ancho chiles hits you, lingering on your palate. As cocktail ingredients go, it's pretty killer. It's an instant, spicy facelift to anything you add it to. The first thing I made with it was a Margarita, subbing it in for triple sec, and I couldn't believe how great it was. I'm not sure I want to make them without it anymore.

Since the thing that surprised me about Ancho Reyes were those flavors up front, and since they seemed kind of perfect for autumn, I decided to play up the spices and sweetness. I originally wanted to make a bourbon cocktail, but I have to say, the Ancho Reyes just sings with tequila. Tequila anejo aged in bourbon barrels gave me those same smooth vanilla and caramel notes while blending perfectly with the Ancho. I added mezcal for smoke and Besamim by Sukkah Hill Spirits for some autumn spices. (I'm guessing you could sub Allspice Dram but I'm not sure - I don't have a bottle yet. Bottle swap, anyone??) Punt e Mes helped bind it all together.

I think this is a pretty great cocktail. At first you get the sweetness of the Punt e Mes, the Besamim, and flavors of cloves, vanilla, and cinnamon. It drinks like a bourbon cocktail for a split second. Then the mezcal and Ancho Reyes hit you, and you get the smoke and spice at the end of your sip. I can't imagine anything more perfect for a chilly fall day. One of these will warm you right up.

Bonfire

1 1/2 oz. tequila anejo (I used Espolon)
1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes
1/2 oz. Punt e Mes
1/4 oz. mezcal
1/4 oz. Besamim or Allspice Dram

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with a burnt cinnamon stick.

Bésame

Even though I've been blogging for over a year now, I think I still fly largely under the radar - while I've been able to connect with a lot of people through Instagram and Twitter, I don't get a ton of traffic or comments here on the blog. Maybe I should be strategizing a bit more about how to change that, but I didn't really start doing this to make money or create a brand - I just really like doing it. You know how they say "Dance like no one's watching?" Well, I think the internet analog to this is "Blog like everyone's watching." It's been fun with or without an audience.

That said, I do get excited when people notice and contact me, and so I was thrilled when Sukkah Hill Spirits asked if I wanted to taste their two products and try them out in some cocktails. I love trying new spirits and I really liked what their company was doing, so of course I said yes. They sent me a few little bottles of their two liqueurs: the sweet and citrusy Etrog and the spice-flavored Besamim. I'll definitely make something with the Etrog soon, but I wanted to experiment with the Besamim first.

The Besamim is like autumn in a bottle. Flavored with vanilla, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, it would be delicious with just some bourbon or rye, or mixed with autumn flavors like maple syrup and apple cider. But it's still summer, and I decided the Besamim was begging to be made into a Tiki cocktail. While cinnamon and cloves probably evoke thoughts of pumpkin pie rather than Mai Tais for most people, ingredients like spiced rum, Allspice Dram, and cinnamon syrup regularly find their way into Tiki drinks, and the Besamim is perfect in this role.

I went with a pretty basic recipe using aged rum, lime and grapefruit juice, some demerara simple syrup, and Angostura bitters. If you can't get your hands on the Besamim (Oh but you can! Order it online or see here for retailers that carry it), Allspice Dram would be a good substitute, though you might have to tweak the recipe a bit to get it just right. You could also try throwing some spices into your demerara syrup for a similar effect.

I decided to call this drink the Bésame (Spanish for "kiss me") because that's what I kept thinking of every time I read the name of the liqueur. It's tart and tropical, with a beautiful spiced flavor from the Besamim. It's everything I want in a Tiki cocktail, and I think I'll drink it for the rest of the summer.

Bésame

2 oz. aged rum (I used Barbancourt 4 year)
3/4 oz. Besamim liqueur
1/2 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. demerara simple syrup*
1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Top with more crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig, a lime wheel, and a cinnamon stick. Mwah!

*Demerara simple syrup is just simple syrup made with demerara sugar, a brown, partially refined cane sugar from Guyana. Combine equal parts of the sugar and water and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Let the syrup cool before using it. You can substitute regular simple syrup, but it won't be as rich as the demerara.