What’s Tony Drinking? December 17: Tequila, Tequila That Tastes Like Whiskey, And Tequila I Still Can’t Wrap My Head Around

Most of my boozing is done for work, so once I’m done writing about something, I often stop drinking it for a while, even if it’s one of my favorite brands. So when the opportunity arises for a liquid reunion of sorts, it’s especially welcome. I was one of Tequila Avión’s biggest boosters when it first launched more than a decade ago, even though I’d never seen an episode of Entourage, the HBO series on which it was featured at the time. So few people knew about it back then that most people figured it was a made-up brand for the show, prompting the marketing department to launch an ad campaign whose slogan was, “Yes, It’s Real.”

Tequila x 3

It had been a while since I’d tasted Avión Silver, the brand’s blanco expression, but trying it again for the first time since, I believe, the Obama administration, it’s lost none of its luster. Unlike so many blancos, you can really taste the savory roasted agave and the minerality of the soil from which it comes. It’s so good, in fact, that my wife — the real tequila fan in the family — has forsaken her traditional margaritas in favor of sipping the Silver neat. Almost as good is the extra añejo Avión Reserva 44, which I don’t think I’d ever tried before. Most extra añejos let the barrel dominate the flavor profile, and what you’re left with is a tequila that might as well be a whiskey. Reserva 44 has a great balance between oak and agave, and while it’s not as awe-inspiring as the Silver, it’s still pretty terrific.

Of course, some people like a tequila that tastes like a whiskey. Case in point: Herradura’s Legend extra añejo, aged for 44 months in heavily charred and grooved American oak barrels sourced from parent company Brown-Forman (they also make a couple of whiskeys you may have heard of, like Jack Daniel’s and Old Forester). The result is, as my friend Josh calls it, “whisquila.” I like it a lot, but I never find myself craving tequila/whiskey hybrids, so the bottle had been gathering dust. I gifted the remainder to Josh, who couldn’t stop raving about it… and drinking it. I’m glad it found a good home.

The newest category of tequila, and one which I’ve generally avoided, is cristalino — extra añejo tequila which has been filtered to remove the color and, to my taste buds, much of the flavor, too. It appeals to a lot of people, from what I can tell, so when Maestro Dobel sent me a bottle of their super-swanky 50 expression, I figured I’d give cristalinos another shot. And… I still don’t think I understand them. I mean, why would you want to take a good aged tequila and filter out so much of what the barrel gave it? It certainly wasn’t unpleasant, with light vanilla and bright fruity notes, and the bottle in which it comes is gorgeous. But it’s definitely a subject for further research.

Liquid Reunion With Plymouth Gin

I drank plenty of non-agave spirits this week as well. I paid a long-overdue visit to an old friend, Plymouth Gin, which was for a very long time my go-to martini gin. Velvety-soft, juniper-forward but with the other botanicals more balanced than in London Drys, this is one hell of a gin, and it has been since 1793. Often overlooked but always there, I’m down for one of these babies on a regular basis going forward. Make mine a Gibson with Tipsy Onions, please.

JFK Airport: Delicious Whisky, Dreadful Cocktails

I finally made it out to the TWA Hotel as part of a weird, totally star-crossed excursion to Kennedy Airport for the opening of the Macallan’s swanky new boutique there. Between my schedule and the traffic and not being able to find the place where we were supposed to be met by the security team (we had to go through TSA without even a flight to some sunny island as consolation), we arrived just in time for the last ten minutes of the event. My best friend, who made the ill-advised decision to join me for the festivities, was so annoyed that she didn’t even drink her gratis sample of the Macallan’s new “Distil Your World: London Edition,” a stunning new cask-strength expression which was advertised as having a curry vibe, in honor of London’s many Indian expats. And sure enough, it did taste a bit like curry!  I didn’t mind having besty’s dram as well. The boutique is a cozy looking place with lots of duty-free exclusives and a little bar where you can while away the time until your flight, and I recommend checking it out, but ONLY if you have to be at JFK anyway.

We figured a cocktail at the retro-riffic TWA Hotel would perk us up, so we headed over (a mere two-minute ride on the Air Train) for a cocktail and a snack. Sadly, the Connie Cocktail Lounge — the bar-in-a-vintage-plane that looks so amazingly cool — was closed, so we hung out in the Sunken Lounge and ordered what turned out to be two of the worst cocktails we’d ever tried. The Vodka Is My Co-Pilot, which tasted like salty olive brine with a little vodka in a plastic cup, was virtually undrinkable. Wait for Connie or the Pool Bar to be open, or else just go for the architecture and the gift shop.

Smoking Allowed — If You’re A Cocktail

I made the executive decision to hit Fine & Rare just to get the awful taste of the cocktails out of our mouths, both literally and figuratively. It was a drizzly Monday, but the place was still packed. When is it not nowadays? I’m a big fan of Fine & Rare and its owner, Tommy Tardie (he also owns the Flatiron Room, a half-mile or so away) and I’m there often enough that friends ask me when I’m just going to move in. But hey, it’s a hell of a bar, with a top-notch whisk(e)y selection, terrific food, a great staff, and live music every night. And it’s walking distance from my home. So what’s not to love?

My cocktail of choice is the Smoking Old Fashioned, made with your choice of bourbon, rye, or Scotch (I went with Old Overholt rye this time) and your choice of smoke (hickory, bourbon oak, maple, cherrywood, applewood, pecan — I chose pecan). It’s served with the top of the glass-covered, and then unveiled to reveal a rush of beautifully scented smoke pouring out of the glass, which of course informs the cocktail. It’s a drink AND a show in one. And it achieved the goal of washing away the stain of the previous few hours, which is what a good watering hole is supposed to do.