Serafin

Challenged to make a tasty tequila drink, I tried to reproduce 69 Colebrooke Row's wonderful Serafin cocktail, which I remembered for tasting at once refreshing and interesting, in a woody kind of way.

In Colebrooke Row they mix the tequila with poire liqueur, lime juice, sugar and ginger beer, and serve in an elegantly narrow highball glass (pictured left).

At home, lacking the poire liqueur and the ginger beer, I opted instead for some pear puree topped with ginger ale.

For the tequila I used Casco Viejo's Reposado (below), in the hopes of enhancing the cocktail's slightly spicy quality, but I'm sure anything made from 100% blue agave would suffice here (just say No to mixto!).

My adapted recipe:

60ml (2oz) Casco Viejo Reposado

15ml (0.5oz) lime juice

15ml (0.5oz) agave syrup

50g pear puree

Ginger ale

Pour the tequila, lime, agave and puree into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with ginger ale.

Problem was, it didn't taste right. The ginger ale lacked the required kick (next time I'll use ginger beer) and the citrus was smothered by the thickening puree (more lime!). This was a shadow of a Serafin.

Maybe that's why Colebrooke Row is one of the best cocktail bars in town, and I'm not.

Fact! Tequila is made by distilling the fermented juice of the blue agave, a spiky-leafed member of the lily family, and not a cactus.