One of our favorite readers is named Caitlin, and she just so happens to be the business manager for local company Santa Fe Spirits (where they distill spirits). And since we love a good local company (and a good recipe), we asked if Caitlin maybe had some recipe ideas for summer cocktails—and she did!
We want to be clear this isn’t a paid promotion thing even at all, just a case of a cool person and a cool Fork getting together to help folks make something tasty in the most we-just-wanna-help way imaginable! We have not been paid to say we’ve had some of the best drinks of our life with Santa Fe Spirits bevvies, and we just like local companies. Cool? Cool.
Below, you’ll find the two recipes from our new best friend—one real simple, one less simple but still not hard. We hope you like them and we hope you support local biz whenever possible. Oh, and let’s all thank Caitlin, too, for sending a cool photo! What a cool biz-manager.
Mystic Sage
- 1.5oz Wheeler’s Gin
- .5oz Lemon
- .75oz Sage Syrup Shake with ice, strain into coupe, lemon twist garnish
*Note from The Fork: Wow, that could not be easier and yet it sounds DELICIOUS!
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Cactus Flower
- .75 oz Cactus Syrup—we use Monin Desert Pear
- 1.5 oz Lime Infused Expedition Vodka
- Seltzer Shake first two ingredients with ice, strain into Collins glass or flute Top with seltzer, add lime garnish
- For lime infused Expedition Vodka 1 bottle Expedition vodka 4 medium limes, sliced about 1/8″ Combine in pitcher or container with lid Refrigerate overnight or longer
*Note from the Fork: Caitlin tells us if you wait for “too short a time, you won’t get the full infusion, too long and your vodka will get bitter.” Just don’t let it sit in there for days and days, and you’ll probably be juuuuuuuust fine.
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What are y’all drinking out there? Anything real good? Any place we should try or specific bevvies we should quaff?
Listen to this jam when you’re drinking any cactus-themed bevvie, and remember to never hug a cactus, no matter how much they resemble people with outstretched arms at dusk.
Also
-In case you’ve been living under a cave or something, you probably heard that Sazón chef Fernando Olea won a dang James Beard Award and is now officially the best chef in the Southwest. Well, according to the Beardos (which is what we like to think the people who work for the James Beard Foundation call themselves). Anyway, our feelings about the accessibility of upscale restaurants during a time of $5 gas gallons aside, let us give a hearty congrats to Olea and his magnificent hat!
-While we’re saying “congrats, chef,” to chefs, let us say congrats, chef to Chef Nath of Nath’s Inspired Khmer Cuisine for winning the big ol’ Taco Wars event at the CHOMP food hall the other day with a chicken curry number we heard was just fantastic. If you’re sitting there all like, “Why the hell wasn’t I informed about an event that is based in a war between tacos?!” please know it’s the kind of thing that sells out fast...and DID sell out fast. Anyway, the event is put on by Fork Frend Natalie Bovis, whom you might also know as The Liquid Muse. Visit her site to follow and learn more. Visit OUR site for extras and ringtones. Just kidding. Can you imagine? Gross.
-Oh, dip, speaking of CHOMP, we just learned it hosts Teacher and First Responder Tuesdays, a weekly thing where people who do those things in the title get 20% off drinks.
-Y’all remember when that Taos-based Wild Leaven Bakery popped up in Santa Fe with its super-great bread and treats and stuff? Well, turns out times are tough and the company will henceforth only offer its bread through its own retail locations in Santa Fe and Taos. In other words? You’ll no longer find Wild Leaven stuff at grocery stores, so head to a proprietary location. Got it? Good.
-Just to clear up any confusion, Mucho’s Gourmet Sandwich Shoppe isn’t closing, we were just congratulating them last week on 33 years of killer sammies. You may all unclench now. But remember, also, that sometimes you’ve got to get that sammie because nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain.
God, this video and song are so sick, especially when Slash is all like, “Screw this wedding, I’m gonna go shred in the desert!” And then he does do that while the camera whips all around him and you’re all like, “WOAH.” But then Axl Rose is all like, “I KNOW IT’S HARD TO KEEP AN OPEN HEART!” AND THE PIANO IS ALL LIKE, “DENG-DANG-DINGIDING-DENG!” AND THE STRINGS ARE ALL, “BA-RUGGUH-NUH...RUGGUH-NUG-JUGGUH-NUH!” AND YOU ARE FREAKING OUT BECAUSE IT’S SO SO SICK.
More Tidbits
-The absolute brainiacs at USA Today want you to know that grilled pizza beats oven-baked, and we’re kind of like, “Sure, bro,” about it. As you know, we know a pizza genius, so...
-Regular readers know that we regularly read pieces from Eater-dot-com, and we particularly enjoyed this-here little ditty on the world of erotic cookbooks. Oh. Our. God. Should we write our own erotic cookbook? We could call it “Hot Forking” or, like, “Boner Jamz.”
-Over on NPR-dot-com, hear from an American teacher in Paris who eschews the sacred lunch hour by eating alone at her desk. We’re ALWAYS eating alone at our desk like an animal, so we get it, but also if we lived in a country like France where breaks are mandated and friends eat pigeons and stuff at lunch, we might be less inclined to go it solo so often.
-Приветствую вас, товарищи. Вы слышали, что Россия провела ребрендинг тех самых ресторанов McDonald’s, которые покинули страну после первых дней войны Путина с Украиной? Очевидно, теперь они называются Tasty, и мы, конечно, чувствуем себя по этому поводу странно. Переведите это здесь.
-According to food industry site Food Dive-dot-com, organic sales slowed in 2021 thanks to consumer priorities—you know, like staying alive because 2020 was so damn horrible that we all barely made it through with our jobs if we even kept our jobs at all? We kept our job, obviously, though that might be more of a hardship for the rest of the world.
-Lastly this week, if those easy recipes from the Santa Fe Spirits folk weren’t enough to whet your whistle, Allrecipes-dot-com has more than 350 to choose from, and they’re not all boozy! Jeeze, we love a slushie.
A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
In this week’s print edition of SFR, staffers made a point to check in with the folks at Fire & Hops after originating chef Joel Coleman moved on earlier this summer. How does new chef Austin “Gus” Emery stack up? Find out here.
Number of Letters Received
15
*EXCUSE US? Who even are you?!
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)
“Nobody likes you, and I’ve asked around so you can believe it.”
*You can take it up with our mother...if you can find her.
Actually Helpful Tip(s)
Zilch.
*Wack.
до свидания, The Fork
