costa r.i.

1 1/2 oz Lunazul Tequila
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/4 oz St. Germain

Shake with ice and strain into a salt-rimmed water goblet filled with fresh ice. Top with Narragansett beer (~2 oz), garnish with a lime wedge, and add a straw.

On Saturday night, I met Andrea at the Boston Shaker store and we went with Felicia from neighboring Dave's Fresh Pasta to dinner at Highland Kitchen. For a drink, I chose the Costa Rhode Island off of the menu for it paired tequila with beer -- a combination which worked rather well in Eastern Standard's Maldenado. Instead of Negro Modelo with tequila in the latter drink, the Costa Rhode Island used Narragansett which used to be brewed in Rhode Island (and hopefully will be once again soon). Bartender Nathan Bice commented that Narragansett pairs rather wonderfully with citrus so it made for the ideal beer choice for this drink. Upon hearing that, Andrea decided to order the Air Mail off of the menu and ask for the sparkling wine component to be swapped for Narragansett. We did try to make an Air Mail with Heineken Light last year but the combination of that brew with lime was rather poor and nowhere as tasty as the sparkling wine original. And indeed, Narragansett proved to be more successful of a beer for the Air Mail.
The Costa R.I. led off with a tequila nose, and the flavor was mainly a salty tequila which was complemented by the maltiness of the beer. The grapefruit and St. Germain acted more as accents in the drink and worked well with the Narragansett's hops. It might be an interesting experiment to double the juice and liqueur components of the drink to add some additional complexity to the flavor profile.