fresa catrina

2 oz Espolón Tequila Blanco
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup (Gomme)
1 small Strawberry
10 Black Peppercorns

Muddle peppercorns and strawberry. Add rest of ingredients and ice, shake, and double strain into an absinthe-rinsed (Pernod Fils) cocktail glass.

With today being the Mexican holiday of Day of the Dead, I am right on time to post this last holiday-themed cocktail. After posting the Ashes to Ashes created by H. Joseph Ehrmann for Espolón Tequila, a rep spotted that we had made their drink with the reposado tequila we had on hand. She wrote and asked if we wanted some samples to try out the drinks the way they were intended to be made. Of course we agreed, and a few days later, their reposado and blanco were at our door in festive Day of the Dead packaging. I had my eye on the Fresa Catrina, one of the other recipes beside the Ashes to Ashes that we were sent, and opened the blanco for a taste. The Fresa Catrina was created by Thomas Waugh of Death and Company in New York, and I could see why he paired up the tequila with black peppercorns. The Espolón tequila had a rather intriguing peppery note on its own. The Catrina of the drink is the "Lady of the Dead" associated with the holiday and often represented as a well-dressed upperclass female skeleton; the Fresa of the name is the Spanish word for strawberry.
The Fresa Catrina's nose was ripe with strawberry (perhaps greatly aided by our freshly cut strawberry garnish) and hints of tequila and the absinthe's anise. A sweet strawberry and lemon sip led into tequila spiced with a light amount of anise notes. In addition, the muddled peppercorns exquisitely complemented the natural peppery aftertaste of the Espolón blanco tequila. I was a bit surprised that the drink was not overly sweet despite the recipe having more simple syrup than citrus; in fact, as the drink warmed up, it even became a little bit on the tart side.