this is life in austin & aspen

There’s a new tequila in town, and it ain’t like those other vaqueros. Dulce Vida tequila is pure, plain and simple: it’s 100-proof, nothing but the distilled juice of organic agave plants from Mexico. No sugars, no water, no vodka to cut it; it’s just tequila.

(Pictured: Dulce Vida Reposado, aged for a year in used American oak barrels)

Excepting the blanco (the youngest of the tequilas), Dulce Vida tequilas are aged in used American whiskey barrels from Maker’s Mark or Jim Beam. The American Oak infuses the tequila with a woodiness that helps curb the edge found in many tequilas. The reposado is aged for a year; the anejo for two or more. Served with a slice of orange with cinnamon dusted on top, it’s delicious neat and over ice.

But at Austin’s Peche, already a hotspot of mixology with its focus on absinthe, award-winning bartender Russell (fill me in if you know his last name) has come up with three signature cocktails that perfectly complement the reposado’s flavor.

My favorite is the Jalapeño Hibiscus Martini:

Dried hibiscus and agave are boiled together like tea and reduced to make a hibiscus syrup

Muddled jalapeño

St. Germaine
Dulce Vida Reposado
Fresh lime

The St. Germaine representative happened to be at Peche, so he explained that St. Germaine is an artisanal liqueur that tastes like grapefruit, pear, tropical fruit but is made of Elderflower, a flower in France that blooms just 2 weeks of the year. Soaked in grapes, pressed with eau de vie, St. Germaine, like wines, has a slightly different flavor each year based on the vintage’s crop. It also has half the sugar of other cordials.

Sangrita
Not to be confused with Sangria, this is a tequila-infused fruit and tomato mixture closer to a Bloody Mary than fruity wine. In Mexico they serve Sangrita as a social drink with 3 glasses lined up like the Mexican flag – lime, tequila, and the mix (that’s green, white, red) – and drinkers sip a little from each to mix the drink in their mouths.

Here, however, it’s served together, the tomato, grapefruit, lime, orange juice, chili powder, sriricha, and jalapeño blending with the reposado and sitting in a salt-rimmed martini glass.

Margarita Martini

No tequila would be complete without its own signature margarita … Dulce Vida’s features the usual lime juice, but instead of orange liqueur, bartenders light orange peel on fire and allow the orange’s essential oils to drip into the glass, infusing the margarita with its signature orange flavor.

Though they just launched two months ago, Dulce Vida tequilas are available all over Austin already. Buy it yourself as Twin Liquor, Spec’s, Davenport Wine and Spirits, and Chris’ Liquor.

Or head to one of my favorite bars that carries it (Lanai!) and ask Jack for an L7 margarita with Dulce Vida. Splurge on the anejo if you can, it’s the smoothest and best.

Other bars with Dulce Vida: Peche, The Ranch, Malverde, Cedar Door, Phoenix, Shiner Saloon, Joe’s Bar, Canvas, Madison, Annie’s West, Touche, Cheers Shot Bar, Republic Live; and restaurants: Ranch 616, Hilton Austin, Gueros, Kenichi, Beso Cantina, Matts El Rancho, Tres Amigos (360), Saba Blue Mesa,  Baby Acapulcos (290/35 and Barton Springs Locations), Texas Embassy, Stompin’ Ground, Jorge’s Mexican.