Shelley visits Strip House in Houston for a media tasting.
Tequila and steak? Not quite. Pulling up at the Strip House in downtown Houston for the Milagro Tequila tasting night, that’s what I assumed we were in for, but I was wrong. And by we I mean me and my boyfriend Rob. I should have read the invitation a little more carefully. The actual title of the evening was “The Evolved Cocteleria Session” and that’s exactly what we got: a night full of evolved cocktails. Tequila is not just for margaritas anymore!!!
The evening began with an abbreviated cocktail hour, we were just warming up. And this time by we I mean me, Rob, and approximately twenty strangers.Frosty frozen roasted pineapple margaritas were on hand along with nicely paired appetizers of chilled shrimp on a cucumber with a chile sauce, and bite-size BBQ pork rib and pineapple skewers. Nicely done.
Next up, we take our seats. We are quickly told by Milagro Brand Ambassador, Gaston Martinez, that this will not be your normal tasting event because we are going to make our own cocktails. That explains the personal settings of shakers, strainers, and muddlers. Is muddler a word? Well, if it isn’t it should be because we muddled our little hearts that evening. But our first clue that we were likely making our own drinks was the assortment of fresh fruits, herbs, bottles of tequila, and highball glasses semi-strategically placed on the tables. And I might add that Gaston was an excellent teacher; he was faced with a room full of people who are more likely to order a fancy cocktail than make one on their own, but he walked us through every step expertly.
First up was a drink Milagro refers to as the Mercadito. And I love it. Absolutely my favorite drink of the night. I’ll post the recipe here, but you can also find this drink recipe, along with all others, on the Milagro Tequila web site.
The Mercadito (El Pepino on the web site)
1. Place three cucumber slices, a pinch of cilantro, and a fresh jalapeno slice (or more according to your jalapeno tolerance level; personally, I’d go for two-three, and found myself wishing I’d ignored the advice to just use one…) in a “Boston shaker”, also known as a pint glass.
2. Muddle away with your muddler. You don’t really want to make cucumber salsa here, you want to muddle/mash enough to get the moisture out of the cucumbers without pulverizing them.
3. Take your highball glass, and fill it with equal parts Milagro Silver tequila and the Milagro lime juice-agave nectar-water base that can be found on their website.
4. Take your stainless steel shaker, place ice in it.
5. Pour your pint glass mixture into the shaker.
6. Put ice in your highball glass.
7. Shake your shaker with pint glass firmly affixed/inserted. I won’t go into more detail here on how to do that, if you’ve gotten this far, you either already know how to do this or should get some towels out and have reserve ingredients on hand.
8. Remove pint glass from shaker, place strainer on top.
9. Pour mixture through strainer into your highball glass.
10. Enjoy!!
Our next two cocktails were equally delicious, but I have to say that I am a sucker for jalapenos and silver tequila, so this first drink really won me over.
The remaining drinks kept me won over, but I’m just not there yet on wanting my tequila to taste more like tequila. Cocktail two was a pineapple, basil, bitter, ginger beer, and reposado tequila mixture that is really worth trying out. Unfortunately, I don’t know the name because by the time I realized I hadn’t noted it, well, I’d had too much tequila and wasn’t persistent enough in getting my question answered. Cocktail three was a surprisingly refreshing cocktail finale; a blackberry, sage, and anejo blend, the Carpe Dia did for many people at the event do just that: seize the day.
To end the night, the tequila flight was introduced. This time with the more expensive Milagro tequilas that are meant for drinking on their own rather than mixing. Yes, more tequila!! Each guest received three wine glasses. The first contained a shot of silver, to which we added “spanked” mint leaves and ice. Very refreshing. Would be perfect on a beach (with a Mexican beer chaser). The second contained the fancy reposado with cinnamon shavings. I have to be honest, this caused some serious Goldschlagger flashbacks that I couldn’t repress fast enough; but then I added a couple cubes of ice which helped immensely. But still not enough to finish it. Finally, our third tasting was the anejo tequila with Oaxacan chocolate shavings. I was very excited about this, as I love Oaxacan chocolate. You will recognize Oaxacan chocolate as the base in the much lauded Mole sauce native to the region and served in many Houston restaurants. I did like this last pairing a lot, but by this late in the evening I was facing tequila overload.
I almost forgot! The food! I went in expecting Strip House fare, but in reality we got the Strip House version of Mexican appetizers: Crab quiche, Chicken flautas, New York Strip tostadas, Mini-Taco bowls, and the slightly out of context sliders—which were my favorite. I’m sure they were looking to appropriately compliment the tequila, and in Houston the natural tendency is to Tex-Mex it up. It seemed the whole point of the night was to expand our tequila horizons, and I found myself wishing that they had expanded the menu pairings a bit more than they did. But, then again, after that much tequila, I would’ve devoured whatever they put in front of me.
All in all, it was a great evening. Definitely out of the ordinary for us, and an event I would highly recommend to anyone looking to get their drink on in a non-traditional way. And we’re definitely drinking up some Mercaditos this weekend. You should, too!!
Editor’s Note: (excerpts from Strip House Press Release)
“In addition to “Milagro Tequila,” the Summer Spirit Series will also present tastings from Absolute Vodka on July 15th and Appleton Rum on August 19th, respectively. Each tasting will examine the crucial components of the drink experience, with cocktails designed to pair with various Strip House menu favorites.
To RSVP, please email akelly@theglaziergroup.com. The cost is $45 per person, including cocktails and passed heavy hors d’oevures; event begins promptly at 6:30 PM. Strip House is located at 1200 McKinney. Valet is complimentary.
