28 Apr Cocktails at Jaleo + Albariza Cocktail Recipe

Where We’ve Been Drinking: Jaleo

It seems like when friends come to town we find ourselves at Jaleo. It’s convenient to  downtown and all of the touristy stuff. It has outdoor seating. Tapas is always fun. And the drinks are good. We ended up at Jaleo with visiting friends on a beautiful weekend day a little while ago. The patio was full, but we were hungry and the brunch menu looked appetizing; so we went for indoor seating. It ended up being a good move. They sat us at a foosball table table: a glass surface for food above and a working foosball table below. The foosball match got more difficult, but no less fun, the more food came to the table.

Cocktails Ordered

Hometown Hero: mezcal, Cocchi Americano, grapefruit, cinnamon

Vegetal Gin and Tonic: gin, tonic, fennel, radish, and cubeb pepper

Albariza: gin, elderflower, amontillado sherry, citrus, lemon bitters, and unadvertised but crucial ‘meringue’

Cocktail Thoughts

The Vegetal was simply a gin and tonic with some vegetables in it. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a decent gin and tonic, but we were a little disappointed to discover how little difference the interesting collection of vegetables made.

The Hometown Hero was a beautiful looking drink, with a thick orange twist spiraling around a highball glass from top to bottom. It tasted pretty good too. The smokiness of the mezcal was a little heavier than we would prefer, but the Cocchi, grapefruit, and cinnamon mixed well with it, making it quite drinkable even for us smoke-avoiding drinkers. If you like a bit of smoke, you’ll love this one.

The Albariza was fantastic. It was light, complex, just the right amount of sweet, well-balanced, and frothy. It was yet another strong argument against the general aversion to egg whites. Really, try it. As solid as the other two drinks were, we wish we just had a round of Albarizas.

Should you go?

Why even ask? We all know you’ll find yourself there next time visitors come into town. Enjoy the tapas. Ask for the foosball table. And order a round of Albarizas.

Cocktail Recipe

Making it at home: The Albariza

We forgot to ask for the recipe, but we’ve been experimenting; this comes pretty close. We’ll get the official one next time we have out of town guests.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz gin
• .75 oz St. Germain
• .75 oz Amontillado sherry
• .25 oz lemon juice
• .25 oz lime juice
• one dash grapefruit bitters
• egg white

Instructions

• Combine everything with ice in a cocktail shaker.
• Shake vigorously until the ‘meringue’ is nice and frothy.