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Matal (Short for Matalcueye the Aztec goddess of fresh water and harves)
This cocktail was created for Sabores Autenticos de Mexico for the Bicentennial of the Mexican Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution.
1/2 oz fresh green mango juice
3/4 oz Gialini "Chamoy" (a Mexican condiment used with fresh fruits or snacks)
3/4 oz fresh orange juice
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz Dainzu hibiscus syrup
1/2 oz Royal Combier
1 1/2 oz Tequila Blanco (Siembra Azul recommended)
Rim the glass with Dainzu Pasilla-Cinnamon Salt
Pour all ingredients in a shaker, add ice, shake and pour into a tall glass. Garnish with a wheel of orange and a mint sprig.
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Samurai Cocktail
2 1/2 oz Samurai Sake
1/2 oz Tonic Water
1/2 oz of Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice
3/4 oz Pomegranate Juice
Pour all the ingredients in a highball glass and with a barspoon stir it and ganish with Blackberries and raspberries in inside of the glass. Don't shake the cocktail because the Sake is too delicate it will destroy the delicate floral, citrus, berries and mineral flavors of Samurai Sake.
prnewswire.com
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The Liquid Lab
Oscar Serrano, Tequila's:
3 muddled kumquats, 1 oz Vita Coco Coconut Water, 2 oz Chairman's Reserve Rum, 1/2 oz simple syrup, 1/2 oz Combier
"Junior's 5 layer molecular shot! Amazing!"
Ezra Pattek, Au Pied de Cochon:
2 oz Leblon Cachaca infused with black cumin, fenugreek leaves, and golden raisins, 1 oz Castries Peanut Rum Crème, 1 oz condensed milk, grated nutmeg
"Phenomenal! Educational! Fun! Creative!
Kazuko Nagao, Pecopeco!
2 oz Siembra Azul Reposado infused with ginger, 6 cornichons, Koppert Cress Limon Cress, 2 1/2 oz Siembra Azul Blanco 1/2 oz lemon juice
"I made my own cocktails for the first time. What a great experience!."
Jane Elkins, Rye House:
2 oz Siembra Azul infused Buddha's hand lemon, 2-3 Koppert Cress Pepquinos, 2-3 blackberries, 1/2 oz Royal Combier, 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton, 1 oz grapefruit juice, lemon twist garnish
"A great deal of fun! I really enjoyed playing with different flavor profiles. It was a bit intimidating at first, but I felt we all warmed up to it."
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Carmen Operetta, blogger, http://libationgirl.blogspot.com/:
3/4 oz Castries Peanut Rum Crème, 3 drizzles of honey, 3/4 oz Domaine de Canton, 1 oz Macchu Pisco, 1 oz Hudson Whiskey
"Crazy-Awesome! I learned sooo much!"
Alex Valencia, Yierba Buena, Perry Street:
2 oz Harrisons & Crosfield Christmas Tea, 2 oz Diablada, 3/4 oz Castries Peanut Rum Crème, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 3 dashes lemon bitters, egg whites
"The Liquid Lab is a real opportunity for bartenders to challenge their creativity among our peers in a limitless surrounding"
Doug Miller, The Culinary Institute of America:
1 1/2 oz Scorpion Reposado, 1 1/2 oz G'Vine Nouaison, 2 oz house made pomegranate pasilla molasses, 8 kiwi berries
"Above anything I could have dremed of."
Eladio Huitzil, Hudson Bar & Books:
2 oz Chairman's Reserve Rum 3/4 oz apple cider, brown sugar cubes, angostura bitters
Barbara Sweetman, Scorpion Mezcal:
1 oz pomegranate seeds, mint, 2 oz orange juice, 1 oz Scorpion Blanco, 1/4 oz Dainzu & Junior Merino's Agave Nectar
"Fantastic! A once in a lifetime experience with exceptional guidance!"
Melanie Asher, Macchu Pisco:
2 oz Leblon Cachacha, 1 oz dragon fruit juice, 1 oz Dainzu & Junior Merino's Hibiscus Syrup, 3/4 oz lime juice, muddled cucumber, 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
"An amazing education in mixology."
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Liquid Courage by Amanda Hathaway
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." (anon.)
Cocktails have never frightened me. I generally consider them my friends and embrace them warmly when they cross my path – even when it's a cocktail that's at first a stranger to me. After a couple sips, we're fast friends – a few more sips and we might even start singing sea shanties together. In that same group of friends: cocktail ingredients – the pretty bottles, many with cool stories about their origins (which often involve monks, oddly enough) and exotic names. Since reaching LDA (that's industry-speak for "over 21"), these friends have been there for me in good times and bad. Trusted, reliable, comforting and never scary...
And then I met the Liquid Chef.
READ MORE
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Dizzy Recap: The Six Dizziest Moments of 2009 by The Dizzy Fizz
Junior Merino's Liquid Lab (November): Holy hole in a lotus root, if you have been to Junior's lab you have truly tasted the rainbow. Primarily for bartenders, this free, day-long experience at Junior's offices in the Bronx (sorry, no photos allowed) is a mix of mad cocktail science and blind tastings. On the day I attended, we tasted five different kinds of vodka, cachaca, rum, pisco, tequila, and mezcal, and we tasted everything twice. Tasting spirits twice (after lots of water and spitting) allowed my palate and brain to register more intense flavors.
READ MORE
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Samba Nights, Leblon Days
by Junior Merino
What a better way to end the year than being in Rio with great company and indulging with a great spirit. I was given a unique opportunity to gather a group of passionate and dedicated mixologists, and along with Gerard Schweitzer, Leblon Cachaca's Founding Partner and COO, we were taken for a tour of a lifetime. My fellow mixologists included Bridget Albert, Chicago, "H" J. Erhmann, San Francisco, and Reza Ismaili, San Francisco.
Our week long sojourn into the heart of Brazil brought us first to Leblon in Rio de Janeiro. Here we all stayed at a hotel right on Leblon beach where we spent our mornings jogging along the breakers and dunes and our afternoons scouring the town for markets, spices, and liquor stores, and our nights enjoying the delights of Brazil.
At local produce markets, I was able to sample amazingly fresh, local products such as sweet passion fruit (granada china or lilikoi), acerola (Brazilian Cherry), caju (fruit of the cashew nut), coquinhos (mini coconuts), figs, guavas, pitayas (dragon fruit) and cherimoya (anona) as well as local flowers such as izote flowers. I also went to many different liquor stores looking for unique and native spirits and liqueurs.
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The climax of our trip to Leblon Beach was sensational. We boarded a cable car to get a birds eye view of Rio., however, prior to this, we drove to the top a mountain and walked to a wooden plank that was 550 meters high (about 1650 feet) over the town. One by one, we strapped ourselves into a harness and one-by-one chose a way down. I chose to hang glide down to the beach, while others chose to parachute. In tandem, I ran and jumped off this massive cliff and glided down after about 10 mins... it was exhilarating.
Every night was an experience with provincial food, fusions and flavors of each of the towns that we visited every day where we were delighted with local dishes such as tuna crusted with farofa and served with okra. Also the pamonhas (Brazilian tamales) were phenomenal. Fried pork rinds with rice and beans, reminded me of my home in Puebla, Mexico.
After indulging ourselves in Ouro Preto and Rio, we took a flight to Patos de Minas, where we were taken to the Leblon Distillery where this amazing, boutique product is born and matured into artesianal perfection using French techniques by Gilles Merlette. We were taken to the fields of sugar cane and had a hand in cutting the stalks with a 3 foot machete. Then we took the sugar cane back to the distillery and ran the stalks through the press, collected the guarapo (sugar cane juice) to later make cocktails with Leblon Cachaca, fresh out of the still and with local ingredients. We were also granted the privilege of tasting Leblon at different stages, different alcohol levels, as well as to taste Leblon out of the barrels at different ages. Our group found out that Leblon uses bagazo (the stalks that are dried after they are pressed) to produce the steam that makes the distillation process happen, so there is no waste of the sugar cane.
And like all great stories, this one came to an end with an amazing group of mixologists from all over the United States toasting their tour with the heart and spirit of Brazil- cachaca.
WATCH VIDEO
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Other Links
Liquid Chef Video Interview (Pt. 1)
Liquid Chef Video Interview (Pt. 2)
Mi Ciudad
Chopsticks - October 2009
The Village Voice - September 2009
Recommended sites:
Inside F&B
Ardent Spirits
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WITNESS: 5th Annual Focus for Change Benefit
November 11th
Walking into this event was just breathtaking. The Roseland Ballroom was transformed into a sexy Japanese garden with larger than life lanterns that floated above guests' heads while they dined at this amazing event hosted by Peter Gabriel and Susan Sarandon. There were live performances by Cindy Lauper and Citizen Cope.
The Liquid Team in conjunction with Leblon Cachaca, served cocktails in support of this great foundation. One was a take on a white sangria with Leblon Cachaca, riesling, and fruit confetti, a classic caipirinha, a honey ginger caipirinha, and another with pomegranate juice, Domaine de Canton and hibiscus.
WITNESS is an international human rights organization that provides training and support to local groups to use video in their human rights advocacy campaigns. Beyond providing video cameras and editing equipment, WITNESS is committed to facilitating exposure for their partner's issues on a global scale. WITNESS helps broker relationships with international media outlets, government officials, policymakers, activists, and the general public so that once a video is made, it can be used as a tool to advocate for change.
READ MORE ABOUT WITNESS |
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SAGARPA
November 11th
Sabores Auntenticos de Mexico & SAGARPA (Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganaderia, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentacion) or The Agricultual Department of Mexico, invited Junior Merino down to Mexico City for a memorable event. Merino not only was slinging cocktails through out the course of the evening, but towards the middle of the evening, Merino was called up on stage to receive an award of Distinction for his contributions to promoting the culture, traditions and usage of Mexican products and flavors all over the world.
But the night was not over yet, because the Mexican Agricultural Department and the Authentic Flavors of Mexico had yet another surprise up their sleeve for Junior Merino. Merino was handed an official proclamation from The Sabores Autenticos de Mexico naming him the official mixologist for Sabores worldwide as an ambassador for Mexican sabores, culture and traditions: regional wines, tequila, mezcal, pulque, products, ingredients, etc.
Merino's cocktails highlighted the theme behind the event of promoting Mexican products, flavors and spirits. As Merino created a few signature cocktails for Sabores Autenticos de Mexico and SAGARPA through out the years, Merino was serving Ioc, a cocktail made with tequila, mezcal, horchata, pulque and of course Dainzu and Junior's own salt- cactus & lemongrass. Junior Merino also made his famous Alma Blanca- an amazing drink made with muddled, fresh corn, herb saint (hoja santa or hierba santa), habanero, and tequila and rimmed with Dainzu's hibiscus-rose salt.
Don't miss the upcoming events with Sabores Autenticos de Mexico and Junior Merino in Spain in January. Merino will be unveiling unique maridajes of heritage and evolution for the Bicentennial of the independence of Mexico as well as various events all over the globe.
READ MORE ABOUT SABORES AUTÉNTICOS DE MÉXICO |
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New York Taste Event
November 2nd
New York Media's 11th Annual New York Taste event was a culinary delight and mixology masterpiece as known chefs from all over NYC as well as 901 Tequila and Junior Merino served up some amazing confections for guests to savor. Proceeds from the evening went to City Harvest to help fight hunger on the streets of NYC.
Guest chefs included Iron Chef America's Masaharu Morimoto, Butter's Executive Chef-Alex Guarnaschelli, Porter House's Michael Lomonaco, just to name a few.
Merino's table was sensational!!! It was set up beautifully with large square punch bowls filled with beautiful round ice balls, fresh flowers, blood oranges, gooseberries, and…..punch. The punch was made with 901 Tequila and Harrisons & Crosfield Christmas Tea. Merino had one with 901 Tequila and cider that was just pure decadence. And yet another with Hibiscus and Domaine de Canton.
With satellite bars all over the event, Junior Merino's cocktails were in just about every guests' hands- not to mention a few chefs as well.
READ MORE AT EXAMINER.COM
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Junior Merino the liquid chef
In 2006, Junior Merino created the Liquid Chef as a means of harnessing his talents and knowledge as a mixologist and offer them to the public. The Liquid Chef, Inc. was founded to educate and to show case the artistry and mixability of ingredients and liquors from all over the world. In 2008, Junior Merino added the Liquid Team—a group of highly trained mixologists inspired by his passion.
Always eager to share his extensive knowledge of spirits and ingredients, Junior has been featured in Gourmet, Marie Claire, Time Out, Latina, the New York Times, Women's Wear Daily, and New York Magazine, among many others, and has appeared on BBC Radio, Martha Stewart Radio and Televisa. He's currently working on a new show called "The Liquid Chef."
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