Intoxicating Music: Tequila 101

Intoxicating Music is a how-to guide on mixology and music and how to quench your thirst for both. Call me Whitty your funky-poet musician and modern mixologist who is constantly on the prowl for classic yet innovative ways to get liquored. What is Mixology? The art and science of the cocktail. What do you get if you combine Mixology and Music? Intoxicating Music. Musicians have eternally found comfort in this liquid love, fornicating with it to make some of the greatest music of all time. Feel free to put your personal favorites as this list will continually expand. So what better way to begin than with the party liaison itself, Tequila.

Tequila is made from the core of the blue agave plant. It's roasted and pressed, then the starch-turn-sugar juice is vatted; add some yeast -- and vwalla! alcohol. But low grade. A day-two distillation is what is bottled, aged and drank by you.

The first time you taste Cuervo is like being devirginized: you like the experience, but it's rough, jagged and maybe not the right flavor. Jose is the ultimate partier -- not just liked, but celebrated. He's always ready to cut loose; but be careful, his bite is ferocious and it's killed millions of future tequila drinkers. Love is all I got for you Jose!

Whitty Recommendation: Drink it straight out of the bottle, if you're going classic you better do it right, bumpin Sublime on the beach out of your ghetto blaster.

One of of my personal favorites, Cazadores Reposado, has a natural lime hint fashioning an incredible cocktail. No sugar or yeast is added to this clean refreshing reposado and if measured correctly crafts the best margarita. The staple of my waiting table days was crushing cazadores in the back of the restaraunt, talking nonsense hoping to get one of the waitresses drunk enough....

Whitty's Recommendations: Pomegranate Crush Margarita with Paramores Crush Crush Crush rockin in the back round, you'll need some motivation to crush that ice.

12 pieces of fresh pomegranate

2 oz Cazadores Reposado

.25 oz of Orange Juice

Agave Syrup

1oz fresh lime juice

muddle 10 seeds of your pomegranate, add 2 big squirts of Agave syrup mixed with the lime juice and stir for 20 seconds in a highball glass....crush up some ice and fill the glass to the top, pour the tequila and OJ in....top of like a snow cone.

Garnish: 2 Pomegranate seeds

my personal creation!

PS - Drinking this tequila gives you little to no hangover, no yeast = no bloating either

"Do you have Patron Silver?", "Oh my God it's so good!", NO its not, it's not the butt of the earth, but Patron is mid range on its' best day. Most people only drink Patron because it's the juggernaut of advertising, "its so smooth and easy to drink"; it's the Hollywood tequila, no love, no color, no flavor. Sweet, mild and straight to the point, no passion in it, just sex, BUT it'll definitely get you goin.

Whitty Recomendation: Shoot it with peaches hard and fast!

1.5oz Patron

Peach wedge dipped in sugar

Partida Blanco is clean and smooth; it has a flowery nose with hints of citrus that level out your palette. I've turned this tequila over in so many different ways, but the best mixtures are not overly sweet and have some sort of bite. Partida also mixes well with food, mostly mexican -- I'll take two enchiladas with a La Bruja! Eat, drink, and be merry!

Whitty Recommendation: Concoct a La Bruja and dance the night away with Dave Matthews,"eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow will die".

La Bruja

Grated Ginger Root

.5 oz simple syrup

(Simple syrup is a made by combining equal parts of

sugar and water, bringing it to a steam, let it set at

room temperature until it thickens and refridgerate.)

.5 oz lime juice

.5 oz pineapple juice

2 oz of Partida

gingerale

grate some ginger root into the bottom of the tin until a nice film is present, add the simple, lime, and tequila; ice and shake for 10 to 15 seconds. Pour into a highball glass and top with gingerale.

Garnish: ginger root slice

created by Damien Windsor

I love the Asombroso Silver! It's a double gold medal winner and is so seductively soft and mellow. This is the first silver I've tasted that feels like an anejo, with a caramel curl, heavier texture and a long finish. There is also a hint of sweet pepper which mixes brilliantly with hotter additives, such as ginger or tabasco. You got a date with Maria, Hip Hop Hooray!

Whitty Recommendation: Although Asombroso is a great sipping tequila, it also makes a great Bloody Maria - she's naughty by nature.

Bloody Maria

2 oz Asombroso Silver

5 oz tomato juice

.5 oz lemon juice

2 dashes of tabasco

2 dashes of worchestire

2 dashes of salt

2 dashes of pepper

build all your ingredients together in a tin, shake and strain over ice into a highball glass.

Garnish: two olives, small dill pickle

The theme tequila for vacationing debauchery and mischief, Margaritaville. An earthy tequila that has hints of apples, pears, and a pinch of black pepper. You know what's coming next, bring it on Jimmy!

Whitty Recommendation:Just

listen to Jimmy

The Perfect Margarita by Jimmy Buffett

1 oz Margaritaville® Gold Tequila

.5 oz Margaritaville® Silver Tequila

.5 oz Triple Sec

.5 oz Orange Curacao

.5 oz Lime juice

Put it all in a tin, shake it and strain it

over ice, salt the rim if preferred.

Garnish: 2 Lime Wedges