El Diablo

1/7/16
9:24 PM

Dear Joe, 

I knew I wanted to make something that would be pretty and purple and something that was substantially different than your cocktail. I also wanted something unexpected. What was the most unlikely pairing with crème de cassis, a fancy-pants French liqueur that tastes like something your grandma would enjoy sipping while watching Murder She Wrote and petting her 27 cats? 

Tequila. 

The liquor that fairly screams Spring Breaaaaak! And "do you even lift bro?" And hangovers. And regret. 

Even as I typed the words "crème de cassis" and "tequila" into Google, I was terrified. They'll put anything on the Internet these days, and I presumed I was destined to end up with a cocktail where the ingredients mixed as well as...well, frat bros and your grandma's supper club (they eat at 5:30 at the K&W Cafeteria, thankyouverymuch). 

But thankfully variations on one recipe kept coming back over and over and over: El Diablo.

Since I'd read your post, dear, and saw the difficulties you'd had, I opted for a mixture that was heavy on the crème de cassis and light on the Everything Else. I ended up using roughly:

• 1 1/2 oz tequila
• 3/4 oz crème de cassis
• Juice of one lime wedge
• Ginger beer*

I combined the first three ingredients in my super-cute redneck cocktail shaker [I'm from the South - I can use those words] and shook.

Post-shaking

Then I poured it into a glass that I got for free from work - only the classiest for our blog, dear! - and topped it off with ginger beer and a lime wedge, which promptly fell off the side of the glass and straight into my drink. 

Diablo with artfully-placed spoon

Is it pretty? 
Sure. 

Can I taste the crème de cassis? 
Nope. 

But without the crème de cassis, all of these bright, forward flavors might trigger a flashback to the horrible times I had with tequila in college. The sweet, syrupy blackcurrant takes some of the bite-y edge off and makes it all feel a tee-tiny bit classier, like those people who could afford not to sleep 18 to a room and who could buy liquor that didn't taste like paint thinner when they went on Spring Break. I never did like them, but I did like this cocktail. It still tastes a bit too summery to be drinking while wearing a cardigan and staring at the still-yet-to-be-put-away Christmas tree. 

Apropos of nothing, do you have any decorations for a Valentine's Day tree? They might come in handy. 

Anyway, dear, perhaps I've found a tequila cocktail that you'll actually drink this summer. It's doubtful, but I'll live in hope. 

I can't wait to get together and see what else we can come up with - we could try something with a dark base spirit, or mayhaps we can make one of the classic crème de cassis drinks together. 

Whatever we make, though, I think one of us has to pretend like we're Ina Garten out for a jaunty afternoon drink in Paris. 

We'll draw straws. The loser can be Jeffrey. 


* I can't recommend Fever Tree ginger beer highly enough - it's undoubtedly the best I've ever had.