Alejandro Medina first encountered the Parkeroo 15 years in the past whereas working at Anvil in Houston, the place the bar program famously emphasizes the classics, each well-known and obscure. Medina, like Anvil proprietor Bobby Heugel, was an important advocate for agave spirits. There, early examples of tequila-based cocktails have been of specific curiosity, particularly if the drink was much less anticipated, and had no relation to the Margarita.
The Parkeroo, with its combination of dry sherry and tequila, match the invoice. The truth is, it’s the one tequila-based cocktail in its authentic supply, The Stork Membership Bar Guide, which was revealed in 1946 and picked up recipes from the well-known New York bar. Within the e-book, the recipe’s transient headnote reads: “Among the many extra unique of the restorative class is a form of bastard Martini developed by Willard Parker with all of the elements cockeyed in addition to the patron.” The “unique” bit, we will assume, refers back to the tequila, which had not but change into ubiquitous within the U.S. The recipe instructs the reader to make use of two elements sherry to 1 half tequila plus a “twist of lemon peel,” to be chilled over shaved ice after which poured into a calming coupe.
The primary recipe Medina labored with was Heugel’s, which known as for a extra spirit-forward ratio (two elements reposado tequila to 1 half amontillado sherry) plus turbinado syrup and Angostura bitters. Although the Anvil model was scrumptious, Medina, who was working at Heugel’s Tongue-Reduce Sparrow on the time, had desires of tackling the drink himself. “I felt like there was a option to make it extra intently resemble the normal model,” he recollects pondering, “however nonetheless be an attention-grabbing drink.”
The Parkeroo lengthy simmered on the again burner for Medina till he was growing the menu for Bar Bludorn, a bar in Memorial Villages, an older, well-to-do neighborhood of Houston. He was making a small reserve cocktails program and thought the Parkeroo might be an important showcase for a wonderful tequila. Medina reached for Plata 48, a 96-proof expression from Cascahuín in Jalisco, one in every of his favourite producers. The tequila hits the palate with an intense cooked-agave taste that just about reads as candy potato-like; it finishes with notes of citrus, poblano and bell pepper.
One of many large modifications Medina made that shifts his Parkeroo in a brand new course is his use of a sherry-based vermouth rather than conventional sherry. The selection brings the drink from a dry Martini variation into Martinez territory. “I really feel just like the Martinez was one of many first ‘let’s go slightly deeper’ cocktails,” he says. “However moderately than being piney and brilliant, the Parkeroo is extra vegetal and roasted.” For the vermouth, Medina introduced in Lustau Rojo, which he likes for the nuttiness and barely yeasty taste.
One other change is within the garnish. “I feel a number of the bitterness that comes out of cooked agave relates slightly bit extra towards pomelo and grapefruits [than lemon],” he says. He provides a splash of grapefruit bitters in addition to a grapefruit peel, artfully studded with a clove, for garnish.
True to early Martinez recipes, Medina provides only a contact of extra sweetener—within the type of a 3:1 agave syrup—which contributes to the physique of the drink and subtly props up the tequila. And he replicates the vermouth-heavy ratio of early Martinez specs as properly, calling for barely extra vermouth than tequila.
This gentler ratio, Medina says, is in keeping with his need to create extra sessionable drinks—and ones that may act as a gateway into the world of agave spirits. “I’ve had plenty of constructive experiences with this drink,” he says. “Particularly in getting individuals to ‘meet’ agave, which is the entire level for me.”
