A Mountain Of Crushed Ice

One thing i`ve noticed about the US is that they have tons of days they celebrate, like today - its National Tequila Day. I ask myself why can`t that be an International Tequila Day? anyway, i don´t want to miss an occasion to raise a toast with one of my favorite spirits and therefore i decided to infuse some tequila with red habanero pepper and mix up a drink to toast.

The classic Margarita calls for tequila, orange liqueur and lime juice. Its a wonderful drink in all its simplicity and very thirst quenching. The fact that tequila mixes so well with fruity flavors is one reason why i like it so much, the other and most important is of course its flavour.

It also mixes well well with hot peppers and i love peppers so here we go, i took my favorite pepper which is the habanero, sliced off a little bit and infused a tequila blanco, just long enough (a few hours in this case) to give it a bit of a peppery bite without being too hot.

I made a similar drink when i was in the US for the New Orleans TDN called the MixoHouse Cocktail but with jalapeno infused tequila, seems i`m on a pepper infusion craze these days. Another of my addictions is as some of you know, Ting - the jamaican grapefruit beverage which traditionally is paired with JWray overproof rum. But Ting pairs well with much things and tequila is one of the best partners i know so don`t be surprised - here is T&T - Tequila and Ting and a toast to tequila.

T&T TOAST

2 oz red habanero infused tequila

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz agave syrup

Top with Ting

Rim a rocks glass with lime-sugar (raw sugar and grated lime zest) Add the ingredients except for Ting in a shaker and shake, strain and pour into the glass filled with large ice cubes, top with Ting. Garnish with a speared habanero.

Happy tequila day!